Overview
Lavanya Vasudevan is an adjunct associate professor at the Global Health Institute at Duke University. Her research focuses on studying the timeliness of vaccinations, identifying vaccination barriers, and understanding the role of misinformation in driving vaccine hesitancy. In addition, she works on developing and evaluating novel interventions, including those that leverage digital health technologies, for health information or service delivery. In her research, Dr. Vasudevan seeks to study and alleviate the complex challenges with vaccination delivery and uptake in low resource settings and in populations experiencing health disparities. In the context of these challenges, Dr. Vasudevan is interested in the use of multidisciplinary collaborations, mixed methods and implementation science frameworks. Dr. Vasudevan completed her doctoral training in molecular biology and genetics at Cornell University and received her Master’s degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Vasudevan is Certified in Public Health by the National Board of Public Health Examiners.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Rural-urban disparities in human papillomavirus vaccination: Findings from a cross-sectional survey of 13 southern US states, December 2019-January 2020.
Journal Article The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · March 2025 BackgroundRural adolescents in the United States lag behind their urban counterparts in the uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. However, a systematic assessment of factors associated with rural-urban disparities in HPV vaccination co ... Full text CiteChanges in general and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among U.S. adults from 2021 to 2022.
Journal Article Annals of medicine · December 2024 IntroductionUnderstanding changes in vaccine hesitancy, overall and by sociodemographic characteristics, may highlight sub-populations for whom more intensive efforts are needed to increase vaccine uptake and confidence.MethodsWe analyzed ... Full text CiteRetrospective analysis of pediatric patients with Burkitt lymphoma treated in Tanzania following the implementation of the 2016 National Treatment Guidelines: Poor outcomes to current standard-of-care therapy.
Journal Article Pediatr Blood Cancer · September 2024 BACKGROUND: Despite the excellent outcomes achieved in the treatment of pediatric Burkitt lymphoma (BL) in high-income countries (HICs), outcomes remain poor in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Efforts to improve BL outcomes in Tanzania included t ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
III: Medium: Ask the Experts: Generating Question-Answer Pairs for Addressing Information Deficits about Vaccines
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2022 - 2026Duke CTSA (KL2)
ResearchScholar · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2018 - 2024"An adaptive prenatal (ADEPT) intervention to encourage childhood vaccinations
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · 2021 - 2022View All Grants