Dallas Swendeman is an applied social and behavioral scientist whose work focuses on multi-level interventions at the intersection of empowerment, prevention, self-management and mobile and social media technologies. Dr. Swendeman has multi-disciplinary training in psychological and medical anthropology, sociology, organizational studies, epidemiology and community health sciences (public health).
Over the past 20 years, he has led and supported projects developing, testing, adapting and scaling up evidence-based interventions for prevention and self-management of substance use disorders, sexual and reproductive health, parenting and development from pre-post natal period to adolescence, individual and community development and empowerment, and implementation science. Dr. Swendeman's research has worked with youth, families, community health workers, sex workers, persons living with HIV, and primary care patients in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). His research has strong focus on innovative technologies to support people and providers, including mobile health ("mHealth") using text-messaging, interactive voice response, smartphone applications, context sensing mobile technologies, social media, and most recently, artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) chatbots and agents, to enhance quality and scalability of interventions. Dr. Swendeman's research uses mixed-methods, randomized controlled trial designs, and implementation science to bridge translational gaps from innovation to adaptation to trialing and implementation. He has also bridged this expertise to provide technical assistance and evaluation support to U.S. healthcare organization through prior HRSA contracts. Dr. Swendeman's work has been conducted with community-based, market place-based, school-based and healthcare organization settings and partners in the U.S., India, and South Africa.