Dr. Laflin received an undergraduate degree in Health Education and a Masters degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Kansas. She received her doctorate of Health Education from the University of Maryland in 1985. For two years, she served as an Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV. And since 1983, she has taught at Bowling Green State University, focusing primarily in the areas of Health and Wellness, Drug Use and Abuse, Human Sexuality, Stress Management, and Health Communication Strategies. For two years, she served as an Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry: West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV.
As Director of Prevention Connection, Dr. Laflin received more than $2,600,000 in federal grant funding to study adolescent drug use and adolescent sexuality and to train educators and community leaders to prevent teen drug use and teen pregnancy. While on sabbatical from Bowling Green State University 2004-2005, she served as a co-investigator on clinical trials at the Addictions and Psychiatric Medicine Research Center, West Virginia University, School of Medicine. She focused primarily on treatments for depression, smoking, dyslipidemia, and schizophrenia.
Dr. Laflin is the author of the chapter “Sexuality and the Elderly” in C. Lewis (Ed.), Aging: the Health Care Challenge (1st through 4th editions). She has published her research in a variety of professional journals including the American Journal of Public Health, the American Journal of Health Behavior, Addiction, Journal of Sex Research, the Journal of Primary Prevention, Health Marketing Quarterly, Journal of Drug Issues, and Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation. She has presented research at the International Congress of Applied Psychology, Madrid, Spain; Prevention Grantee Meeting, Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs; World Conference on Health Education, Dublin, Ireland; Scientific Meetings of the American Academy of Health Behavior; Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality; and the Fourth International Congress of Behavioral Medicine. From 2008-2009, she served as the first woman president of the American Academy of Health Behavior, a prestigious organization whose members are required to have published a minimum of 10 data-based research articles in peer reviewed, national or international professional journals.
Dr. Laflin is excited to bring her educational and technological talents to Great Seminars Online.