Jenny Spadola, MPH

Jenny Spadola wants to crack the code of health behavior change.  While there may be several models and theories that work for certain populations, Spadola is aiming for a theory that creates sustainable health behavior change for all patients. 

“It’s not just about the absence of disease,” says Spadola, “it’s the total physical well being.”

As project manager for the health behavior lab at the HSRC, Spadola works with physicians and researchers at the University of Miami to obtain grant funding to test new behavior change methods and study designs. 

One of Spadola’s projects involves obesity and answering the question of why some people are successful at losing weight when others are not.  Spadola believes that obesity may be easy to fix in theory, but in reality it’s a code that can’t be broken.

Spadola received her Master’s in Public Health from the University of Miami and her undergraduate degree from Florida Atlantic University. 

A lifelong resident of South Florida, Spadola decided to work in public health because of her father, Ron Spadola, who died of lymphoma in 2000.  She has since started a foundation in memory of her father that has donated over $10,000 to the University of Miami’s Sylvester Cancer Center.