Betsy Sleath, PhD, is the chair and George H. Cocolas Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and adjunct professor of  health policy and administration at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. In addition, she is a senior research fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Most of her research focuses on: (a) physician-patient communication about medications and mental health issues, (b) ethnic/racial differences in medication use, and (c) health behavior and medication adherence. Her work in this area has been funded by NHLBI, NIA, NIMH, NEI, AHRQ, and the Bayer Institute for Health Communication. She received her PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BS in pharmacy and a BA in sociology from the University of Connecticut.

Sleath is principal investigator on a $2.0 million grant from the National Eye Institute. This project is based on provider-patient communication and glaucoma patient outcomes. She is principal investigator on a $1.6 million grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. This project is examining how communication between pediatricians and children with asthma and their caregivers is related to asthma control and child outcomes.

Sleath serves on the editorial board of Patient Education and Counseling and the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice.

From 2008 to 2010, Sleath was a member of the FDA's risk communication advisory committee. She is also past chair of the social and administrative sciences section of The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. She is codirector of the community engagement core of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute.