Associate Professor
Director, Ph.D. Program
Department
Department of Systems, Populations and Leadership
University Affilliations
Associate Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health
Director, Training and Education Core, University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center
Co-Lead, Data and Design Core, Eisenberg Family Depression Center
Research Affiliate, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research
Research Affiliate, Institute on Women and Gender
Contact
University of Michigan School of Nursing
400 North Ingalls Building
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5482
Sarah Stoddard is accepting new PhD students.
Interests
Adolescent Substance Use
Future orientation
Adolescent health
Risk and resilience
Prevention Science
Youth violence
Dr. Stoddard is recognized nationally for her leadership in adolescent health and her interdisciplinary research to prevent youth violence and substance use. Her research aims to improve our understanding of youth development within adverse contexts, particularly how individual factors and environmental influences impact youth outcomes, and to guide school and community prevention efforts focused on substance use and youth violence. Through research, leadership in community-based partnerships, and linkages with schools, she has advanced the frontier of substance use prevention through interventions that enhance future expectations and school connectedness among vulnerable youth. Her research has significantly broadened the knowledge base and importance of future expectations as a key internal asset for preventing substance use and violence.
Current Research Grants and Programs
National Institutes of Health. Summer Research Fellowship Training Program: Advancing the Science of Firearm Injury Prevention (PI: S. Stoddard; P. Carter).
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control NIH. University of Michigan Injury Center, Role: Co-I/Director, Training and Education Core (PI: D. Wiebe) (1RA49CE003552).
National Institutes of Health. Partners in Research: Building capacity for community-driven research to advance health (PI: R. Mehdipanah; J. Heinze).
National Institutes of Health. Positive Childhood Experiences and Intergenerational Trauma Transmission (PI: S. Stoddard [Sponsor]; P. Drenth).
National Institutes of Health. Complexity: Innovations in Promoting Health through Team Science. (PI: M. McCullagh).
Teaching
Dr. Stoddard brings her practical experience as a public health nurse and nurse practitioner to her classroom teaching and mentoring, and believes in the importance of incorporating practical experiences into classroom learning. She provides opportunities for students to be active contributors in the learning process and engages them in a variety of interactive and collaborative activities, in-class or online, that include time for student deliberation, reflection, and synthesis of key concepts. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on community and population health. Dr. Stoddard has mentored numerous graduate students from across the university in their research and scholarship. Her mentoring experiences have focused primarily on child and adolescent health from a community/population health perspective.
Affilliations/Service
Invited Facilitator, The Road Ahead for SDOH Research Amid Current Priorities: A Faculty Convening, National Institute of Nursing Research, 2025
Appointed Member, Committee on Improving the Health and Wellbeing of Children and Youth through Health Care System Transformation, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2023-2024
Appointed Member, Community Preventive Services Task Force, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2021-2027
Member, American Academy of Nursing, 2019-present
Member, Awards Committee – Research Subcommittee, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM), 2016-present
Editorial Board Member, Youth & Society, 2015-present
Member, Interdisciplinary Association of Population Health Science, 2015-present
Faculty Representative, CHEAR: Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Michigan, 2013-present
Member, Society for Prevention Research, 2013-present
Member, Abstract Review Committee, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM), 2012-present
Member, American Public Health Association, 2010-present
Member, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, 1998-present
Board of Directors, Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science, 2017-2020
Chair, Finance Committee, Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science, 2019
Notable Awards/Honors
Marianne Marcus Award, Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance Use and Addiction (AMERSA), 2024
Excellence in Nursing Research, Sigma Theta Tau International, Rho Chapter, 2019
Fellow, American Academy of Nursing, 2019
New Investigator Award Finalist, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, 2016
Fellow, Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine, 2014
Robert H. DuRant Award for Statistical Rigor and Innovation in Adolescent Health Research, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, 2013
Education
Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 2009
MS, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 1999
BS, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN 1994
Publications Highlights
Voepel-Lewis, T., Stoddard, S., Marriott, D., Evans-Polce, R. J., Herrenkohl, T. I., Seng, J., Scott, E. L., Khadr, L., & Boyd, C. J. (2026). Social environmental factors help to explain early substance use initiation among youth with comorbid psychological and somatic symptom trajectories. Journal of Adolescent Health, 78(3), 463–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2025.10.024
Moore, C. R., Veliz, P. T., Herrenkohl, T. I., Miller, A. L., V. Pilkauskas, N., & Stoddard, S. A. (2025). Associations among childhood household income, latent classes of early adverse childhood experiences, and adolescent mental health. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 1–14. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/10.1080/01612840.2025.2490286
Jones, D. L., Heinze, J., & Stoddard, S. (2025). Examining the role of school and neighborhood disorder in early adolescents’ future orientation development. Youth & Society, 57(3), 438-469.
Moore, C.R. & Stoddard, S.A.s (2024). Associations between adverse childhood experiences, adolescent behavioral health challenges and high school dropout. Journal of School Health. DOI: 10.1111/josh.13527. PMID: 39462220.
Polick, C. S., Ploutz-Snyder, R., Braley, T. J., Connell, C. M., & Stoddard, S. A. (2023). Fatigue, pain interference, and psychiatric morbidity in multiple sclerosis: The role of childhood stress. PloS One, 18(10), e0292233. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292233
Stoddard, S.A., Austic, E., Epstein-Ngo, Q., Walton, M., Carter, P.M. Heinze, J.E., Zimmerman, M.A., Cunningham, R. (2020). Substance use and mental health predictors of patterns of non-partner youth violence among high-risk urban youth. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 213, 108-17. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108117.
Stoddard, S.A., Hughesdon, K., Khan, A., & Zimmerman, M.A. (2020) Feasibility and acceptability of a future-oriented empowerment intervention to prevent drug use and school dropout. Public Health Nursing, 37(2), 251-61. DOI: 10.1111/phn.12706.
Stoddard, S.A. & Veliz, P.T. (2019). Summer school, school disengagement, and substance use during adolescence. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 57(1): e11-e15. DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.01.014.
Stoddard, S.AS. & Pierce, J. (2018). Alcohol and marijuana use and intentions among adolescents: The role of the reasoned action approach and positive future orientation. Youth & Society, 50, 758-779.
Steiger, R.M., Stoddard, S.AS., & Pierce, J. (2016). Adolescents’ future orientation and nonmedical use of prescription drugs. Addictive Behaviors, 64, 269-274.
Goldstick, J. Stoddard, S.A., Carter, P., Zimmerman, M.A., Walton, M.A., & Cunningham, R.C. (2016). Characteristic substance misuse profiles among youth entering an urban emergency department: neighborhood correlates and behavioral comorbidities. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 42, 671-681.
Stoddard, S.A., Pierce, J., & Schmidt, C. (2016). Grade-level differences in future-oriented self-concept during early adolescence: Potential relevance to school nursing. Journal of School Nursing, 32, 390-396.
Stoddard, S.A., & Pierce, J. (2015). Promoting positive future expectations during adolescence: The role of assets. American Journal of Community Psychology, 56, 332-341. DOI: 10.1007/s10464-015-9754-7. PMID: 26385095.
Stoddard, S.A., Choe, D.E., Heinze, J.E., & Zimmerman, M.A. (2015). Predicting violent behavior in emerging adulthood: The role of violence exposure and future educational aspirations during adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 44, 191-203. PMID: 26282242. NIHMSID: 716176.
Additional publications itemized in CV (link below)