President and Research Director
Internet Solutions for Kids

Dr. Michele Ybarra is President and Research Director of Internet Solutions for Kids, a non-profit research organization in the US centered on understanding the impact on and opportunities for adolescent health represented by new technologies. She is internationally recognized for her work in the field of Internet victimization, including cyberbullying and Internet harassment and unwanted sexual solicitation, and has published extensively on the psychosocial characteristics related to these experiences by youth.

She is the Principal Investigator (PI) for Growing up with Media, a national, longitudinal survey of adolescents in the United States to identify the associations between violence in new media (e.g., Internet and mobile phones) and seriously violent behavior (CDC U49CE000206). This study has recently been extended to examine characteristics associated with the manifestation of sexually violent behavior over time (R01 CE001543). Dr. Ybarra also is leading a team of researchers in conducting a national survey to better understand the benefits as well as risks posed by the Internet for LGBT youth (R01 HD057191).

In addition to epidemiological surveys, Dr.Ybarra leads technology-based intervention studies. She is the PI for the CyberSenga project in Mbarara, Uganda which is examining the applicability of the IMB model for adolescent HIV risk behavior and integrating findings into the design of a novel, Internet-based HIV prevention program for youths (R01MH80662). Additionally, she is the Principal Investigator of an NIH / Fogerty Foundation study to develop and test the feasibility of SMS Turkey, a text messaging-based smoking cessation program for adult smokers living in Ankara, Turkey (R01TW007918). She is PI of a sister project in the US to test the feasibility and acceptability of the program among young adult smokers as well (R21 CA135669).