Jennifer Bleck PhD
Jennifer Bleck, a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, is an Associate Professor in the College of Public Health. Dr. Bleck is the Co-Director of the College for Applied Lifestyle Medicine (CALM) and teaches undergraduate and graduate Health & Wellness Coaching courses. Her research on health & wellness coaching and college student mental well-being has led to numerous publications, presentations, and national awards, including the American College Health Association’s Best Practices Award and an American College of Lifestyle Medicine research award.
In addition to her current work providing coaching services to college students and adults with chronic health conditions, Dr. Bleck served as Director of the University of South Florida’s Success & Wellness Coaching program from 2017 to 2021. In this role, she oversaw a team of six staff coaches and a rotating group of up to 15 intern student coaches, who provided coaching services to over 600 students annually.
Dr. Bleck's research interests include program evaluation, mental well-being, and lifestyle medicine. Her research has resulted in almost 100 conference presentations and over 50 publications, technical reports, and white papers. Dr. Bleck's influence in health and wellness coaching extends beyond academia. She serves as a program development collaborator and consulting program evaluator for multiple partners across the healthcare, government, non-profit, and for-profit sectors. This work has included multiple large-scale assessments, resulting in white papers on the State of Health Coaching and the State of the National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching.
Dr. Bleck also provides consultation services to other higher education institutions to support the development of new peer coaching services and health coaching training programs. In addition to these accomplishments, she has multiple leadership roles, including membership on the research committee with the American College Health Association and Wellcoaches’ Coaching Leadership Alliance. She also serves on the advisory board for With Pillar Inc. Her expertise is recognized at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she serves as adjunct faculty, teaching Methods and Measures for Public Health Practice.