Melody S. Goodman is an American biostatistician whose interests include social determinants of health, health literacy, and stakeholder engagement in health research.[1] Goodman has spoken publicly about racial disparities in access to healthcare,[2][3] and is an advocate for public outreach and engagement on health issues.[4][5] She is a professor of biostatistics and Interim Dean of the New York University School of Global Public Health.[6]
Goodman majored in economics and applied mathematics & statistics as an undergraduate at Stony Brook University,[1] graduating in 1999.[7] She went to Harvard University for graduate study in biostatistics,[1] earning a master's degree in 2003 and completing her Ph.D. in 2006.[7] Her dissertation, Statistical Methods for Community-Based Cancer Interventions and Health Disparities Research, was supervised by Yi Li.[8] She is African-American, but had no African-American professors throughout her education, and her later publications have included work on the diversity of students and faculty in public health.[9]
As well as at NYU, she has taught biostatistics at Stony Brook University,[10] where she was an assistant professor of preventive medicine,[7] and Washington University in St. Louis,[10] where she was an assistant professor in the Division of Public Health Sciences.[11]
On March 29, 2024, Goodman was named Interim Dean of the NYU School of Global Public Health after Debra Furr-Holden stepped down from the deanship.[12]
Goodman is the author of the book Biostatistics for Clinical and Public Health Research (Routledge, 2018).[13] With Vetta Sanders Thompson, she is co-editor of Public Health Research Methods for Partnerships and Practice (Routledge, 2018).
Goodman was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2021.[14]