Dexter Taylor

Dexter Taylor, PhD, is the Director of Public Affairs Research Programs at EurekaFacts. He is a social psychologist with a broad range of research experience and interests, including education, credentialing, public health, workforce development, market research, health equity, and applied social psychology.

Dr. Taylor has over twenty years of experience conducting research and programmatic work for vulnerable populations and the professionals who serve them. He has developed expertise in assessing program implementation, improvement, and performance, with a particular emphasis on programs targeting the health, safety, and well-being of children, adolescents, and minorities. He has served as a lecturer for undergraduate courses in Cross-Cultural Psychology and in Research Methods. Dexter has more than twenty peer-reviewed publications or government reports addressing youth risk behavior (e.g., underage drinking, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, violence, and suicidal acts), childhood injury prevention, health disparities, program evaluation, and experimental research in lab and field settings.

In addition, he has many years of experience conducting research on the societal cost of underage drinking and tracking motor vehicle injury related to child safety seats. He developed state-by-state fact sheets on impaired driving crash and injury statistics, as well as the benefit of policies like seatbelt laws, blood alcohol concentration, and motor cycle helmets when implemented by the states and created similar fact sheet series on underage drinking. In addition, he conducted secondary analysis impact research on young unlicensed drivers. He has made extensive use of national datasets regarding fatal crashes (FARS data analysis including cause of crash, e.g., blood alcohol concentration, speeding, alcohol, road conditions) and motor vehicle injury from Multiple Cause of Death (MCOD).

At EurekaFacts, Dexter leads and develops a business portfolio of social science research programs serving government, nonprofit, and private sector clients that includes public opinion, communications, public health research, and citizen engagement practice areas. His responsibilities include developing and maintaining a healthy research practice, meeting the highest quality of methodological standards, building strong client relationships, and ensuring total client satisfaction.

Dexter holds a PhD and an MA in Social Psychology from the University of Maryland College Park and a BS in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he also minored in Sociology. He has also completed the Certificate Program for the Credentialing Specialist provided by the Institute for Credentialing Excellence.