Ashley Townes, Ph.D., MPH

Ashley Townes, Ph.D., MPH, is an epidemiologist and sexual health researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has a master's degree in Public Health from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. in Health Behavior and Epidemiology from Indiana University.

Townes has served in local, state, and federal public health entities including the Hamilton County Public Health Department as a Disease Intervention Specialist and the Ohio Department of Health as an Epidemiologist. She has also taught collegiate-level Human Sexuality courses and currently works as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research focuses on understanding black women's sexuality, addressing racism, discrimination, and health inequities in healthcare settings, and improving sexuality education for people of color, primarily the Black community.