Elise Lopez

Research Affiliate

Elise Lopez, DrPH, MPH, is a SIROW Research Affiliate and the Assistant Director of the Relationship Violence Program in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She has worked in health promotion since 2004 in community and research settings. Elise has worked primarily on programs that focus on the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions related to sexual violence, sexual health, adolescent substance abuse, and trauma-informed care. Current projects include developing and implementing interventions for students found responsible of sexual misconduct, and evaluation of a bar staff bystander intervention training program. She was the recipient of the inaugural Youth, Family and Community Evidence-Based Practice Award from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2007. In 2016, she received the Abstract of the Year Award from the Law Section of the American Public Health Association for a co-authored paper on restorative justice innovations for sexual misconduct on college campuses. In 2015, she served as an invited U.S. Delegate to the Ontario Government Women’s Directorate’s Summit on Sexual Violence and Harassment, and in 2017 served as a Liaison to the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section Task Force on College Student Due Process Rights and Victim Protections. She serves as a site preceptor for graduate and undergraduate interns, providing training in violence research methods. She is the chair of the response workgroup of a national collaborative group that develops restorative justice-based innovations in college prevention and response to sexual misconduct. Her work has been published in outlets such as the American Psychologist, City University of New York Law Review, and The American Journal of College Health. Her areas of expertise and interest include sexual violence, misconduct, and harassment, violence epidemiology, restorative justice, adolescent health, health and well-being of women and girls, and policy responses to violence.