Jochebed G. Gayles, Ph.D. (she/they) is an Assistant Research Professor in the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center at Penn State. She also serves as the Lead Evaluation and Research Strategist and Co-Principal Investigator of the Evidence-based Prevention and Intervention Support (EPIS) project, where she develops and tests tools and methods to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of technical assistance, coaching, and support systems for organizations implementing programs, policies, and practices and on how communities can equitably translate evidence into impact at scale​. Her scholarship bridges developmental science, prevention science, implementation science, and evaluation, with a focus on understanding and distilling how contextual conditions, including family, culture, neighborhood, and broader ecological systems, shape the health and well-being of youth.  

Now accepting undergraduate and graduate students. For information, please contact Dr. Gayles at jgg137@psu.edu.

Research Interests

Dr. Gayles’ research asks how to design, deliver, and sustain prevention and promotion strategies that are both effective and equitable—especially for youth and communities that have been historically underserved by systems meant to support them. Across projects, she integrates developmental and ecological theory, culturally responsive and equitable evaluation, and prevention and implementation science principles, with rigorous methodological approaches to understand the dynamics of contexts for the promotion of youth well-being, and to strengthen implementation supports (e.g., technical assistance systems) that help communities adopt what works. 

Current and evolving interests include:​ 

• Youth health and well-being across cultural, social, developmental, and environmental contexts, including risk and protective processes in families and neighborhoods. 

• Equitable implementation and evaluation of prevention programs, policies, and practices, with attention to “for whom and under what conditions” strategies succeed or fall short. 

• Technical assistance and prevention support systems (e.g., coalition and cross-system infrastructure) that translate evidence into routine community practice. 

• Community-engaged and participatory approaches that share power in research design, interpretation, and use, particularly with communities who have been marginalized in traditional research. 

Dr. Gayles’ newly minted Lab for Equitable Prevention & Implementation in Diverse Contexts focuses on bridging the science-to-service gap by building and testing equitable prevention and implementation strategies that work in real communities—not just controlled settings. The lab’s work sits at the intersection of youth development, prevention systems (coalitions and cross-sector infrastructure), and culturally responsive, community-engaged evaluation and translation. Lab projects are closely connected to applied prevention initiatives at Penn State’s Prevention Research Center and EPIS, offering real-world settings for learning implementation, CBPR-informed evaluation, and translation in action. 

Join the Lab

Early career scholars joining the lab gain training and mentored practice in doing research that is scientifically rigorous, community-engaged, and oriented toward equity, social justice, and impact. Opportunities typically include contributing to prevention evaluation and implementation projects; strengthening skills in research design, analysis, writing, and dissemination; and learning how to translate evidence-based approaches into community-ready supports (e.g., technical assistance tools and systems) that are co-developed with practitioners and community partners. The lab is especially well-suited for scholars interested in prevention science, public health, implementation science, applied developmental science, community-based participatory research, and community systems change.