About
Dr. Jenny Niedenfuehr earned her PhD in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences from the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. She also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, with a minor in Japanese, from Lawrence University. She has intermediate-to-advanced proficiency in Japanese and beginning proficiency in Chinese, Italian, and Spanish. Her professional background spans public health, psychology, and behavioral research, financial data management, health promotion, and the food service industry. These varied experiences have given her a broad understanding of organizational environments, socioeconomic differences, cultural norms, health disparities, and how social conditions influence health behaviors and access to care.
Research Interests and Experience
Dr. Niedenfuehr’s research focuses on chronic illness, sexual health, chronic pelvic pain, connective tissue disorders, patient experiences, and healthcare disparities. She has studied genitopelvic pain disorders, including vulvodynia, endometriosis, pudendal neuralgia, and related conditions. Her work primarily includes evidence synthesis, qualitative interviewing and analysis, survey research, manuscript development, and translating findings into practical recommendations for patients and healthcare providers. Her doctoral dissertation examined vulvar pain disorders among people with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and hypermobility spectrum disorders through a scoping review, healthcare provider interviews, and theory-informed patient interviews to understand existing evidence, clinical practices, and lived experiences. During her doctoral training, she also worked as a Graduate Research Assistant with the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute’s Trauma-Informed Care Evaluation Project. She interviewed healthcare providers and staff at federally qualified health centers enrolled in the program, wrote a substantial portion of the team’s fifth-year report, and assisted with drafting grant aims and literature reviews.
Volunteer Work
In addition to her academic work, Dr. Niedenfuehr is committed to patient advocacy and public education. She has participated in the patient advocate committee of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health, supporting increased awareness of sexual health conditions and advocating for improvements in medical education. She also manages an online community for individuals living with multiple symptoms and chronic pain. Through this work, she promotes social support, reduces isolation, shares educational resources, and helps patients identify appropriate specialists and prepare for medical procedures. She has also maintained a longstanding commitment to children’s education, health promotion, and community service. She has volunteered with nonprofit organizations that provide meals to low-income families, supported the American Refugee Committee, and tutored elementary school students through the YMCA. She also worked as a health promotion manager in a dental office, where she developed educational posts and videos promoting oral healthcare, particularly children’s dental health.
Career Goal
Overall, Dr. Niedenfuehr's long-term goal is to become an independent behavioral scientist and health promotion researcher specializing in chronic disease, sexual health, and patient-centered care. She hopes to develop and evaluate interventions at the healthcare, community, and policy levels, particularly for underserved populations and individuals with complex chronic conditions. Her work is guided by a desire to improve healthcare quality, patient education, clinical understanding, and health outcomes. Colleagues, professors, and employers have described Dr. Niedenfuehr as having a tenacious ethic, goal-oriented, and highly focused, as she has never missed a deadline and completes work well in advance. Her interdisciplinary background in anthropology, behavioral science, public health, and lived-experience-informed research enables her to approach complex healthcare questions from multiple perspectives. She is committed to producing meaningful, high-impact research that elevates patient voices and improves the health and well-being of individuals and communities.