Education

 • BS (Sociology) – Stanford University
• MS (Sociology) – University of Wisconsin-Madison
• PhD (Sociology) – University of Wisconsin-Madison

Research Interests

• HIV/STD/Teen Pregnancy Prevention
• Models of Health Behavior Change
• Methods to Improve Validity of Self-Reports of Sensitive
Behaviors

Selected publications

 Book, last 6 years

Zimmerman, R. S., DiClemente, R., Andrus, J., & Hosein, E. (Eds.). (April, 2015). Global Health Promotion. San Francisco: Wiley/Jossey-Bass.

Peer-reviewed journal articles, last 6 years

Melendez-Torres, G., Spencer, T., Ingram, L., Pettengill, R., Mullman, M., Otterbein, M., Stein, R., Kilburn, & Zimmerman, R. S. (in press). Quasi-experimental evaluation of The Grassroot Project, a sport-based sexual health promotion program for urban middle school students. American Journal of Sexuality Education.

Jennings Mayo-Wilson, L., Benotsch, E. G., Grigsby, S. R., Wagner, S., Timbo, F., Poteat, T., Cathers, L., Sawyer, A. N., Smout, S. A., & Zimmerman, R. S. (in press). BMC Public Health, 20:782.

Charney, R., Tener, V., Lavin, R., Zimmerman, R. S. & Bender. A. (In press). Ready to respond: A survey of interdisciplinary healthcare students and administrators on disaster management competencies. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

Lavin, R., Tener, V., Charney, R., Zimmerman, R. S., & Bender, A. (In press). Zika and Flint water public health emergencies: Disaster training toolkits relevant to pregnant women and children. Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing.

Won, S., Anderman, E.M., & Zimmerman. (2019). Longitudinal relations of classroom goal structures to students’ motivation and learning outcomes in health education. Journal of Educational Psychology, Aug 15 , 2019, (online first). http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000399

Coltart, C.E.M., Hoppe, A., Parker, M., Dawson, L., Amon, J. G., et al. (2018). Ethical considerations in global HIV phylogenetic research. Lancet HIV, 5 (11), e656-666.

Zimmerman, R. S., & Kirschbaum, A. (2017). News of biomedical advances in HIV: relationship to treatment optimism and expected risk behavior in US MSM. AIDS & Behavior, 22, 367-378.

Tannenbaum, M. B., Hepler, J., Zimmerman, R. S., Saul, L., Jacobs, S., Wilson, K., & Albarracin, D. (2015). Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories. Psychological Bulletin, 141 (6), 1178-1204.

Zimmerman, R. S., Benotsch, E. G., Shoemaker, S., Snipes, D. J., Cathers, L., Perrin, P. B., McMillan, D., Pierce, J., McNulty, S., & Heck, T. (2015). Mediational models linking psychosocial context, mental health problems, substance use and HIV risk behaviors in transgender women. Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, 3(1), 379-390. DOI: 10.1080/21642850.2015.1093423

Benotsch, E.G., Zimmerman, R.S., Cathers, L., Pierce, J., McNulty, S., Heck, T., Perrin, P.B., & Snipes, D.J. (2015). Non-medical use of prescription drugs and HIV risk behavior in transgender women in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. International Journal of STD & AIDS, July 15, 1758-1052.

Boyson, A., Zimmerman, R. S., & Shoemaker, S. (2015). Exemplification of HAART & HIV/AIDS: A news experiment. Health Communication, 30, 901-910.

Benotsch, E. G., Zimmerman, R. S., Cathers, L., Heck, T., McNulty, S., Pierce, J., Perrin, P. B., & Snipes, D. J. (2014). Use of the internet to meet sexual partners, sexual risk behavior, and mental health in transgender adults. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 27 November, published online.

Chaisamrej, R., & Zimmerman, R. S. (2014). A comparative investigation of TPB and altruism frameworks for an empirically based communication approach to enhance paper recycling. Applied Environmental Education and Communication, 13(1), 28-37.

Hsueh, K-H., Bachman, J. A., Richardson, L. I., Cheng, W-Y., & Zimmerman, R. (2014). Mechanisms through which reciprocal filial values protect wellbeing of Chinese adult-child caregivers in the US. Research in Nursing & Health, 37(2), 155-166.

Kaufman, M. R., Cornish, F., Zimmerman, R. S., & Johnson B. T. (2014). Health behavior change models for HIV prevention: Practical recommendations for a multi-level approach. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 66 (suppl 3), S250-S278.

Zimmerman, R.S., Morisky, D. E., Harrison, L., & Mark, H. (2014). Validity of behavioral measures as proxies for HIV-related outcomes. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 66 (suppl 3), S285-S292.

Zimmerman, R.S., Cupp, P. K., Abadi, M. H., Donohew, R. L., Gray, C,. Gordon, L., & Grossl, A. B. (2014). The effects of framing and fear on ratings and impact of anti-marijuana PSAs. Substance Use & Misuse, 49 (7), 824-835.

Noar, S. M., Zimmerman, R. S., Palmgreen, P., Cupp, P. K., Floyd, B. R., & Mehrotra, P. (2014). Development and implementation of mass media campaigns to delay sexual initiation among African American and White youth. Journal of Health Communication,19(2), 152-169.

Honors and Awards

 2001 Researcher of the Year, College of Communications and Information Studies, University of Kentucky
1978 Phi Beta Kappa, Stanford University

Current Research

 Micro-economic intervention to reduce HIV in transgender women. R34 funding from National Institute of Mental Health (NIH).

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