Scholars

Research Interests:
Racial/ethnic disparities; HIV testing and linkage/retention in care; access to care, utilization and quality of care; HIV risk behaviors and risk reduction; substance abuse; Populations of interest: Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) and substance users.

Research Interests:
Biomedical and psychosocial factors affecting health outcomes related to HIV infection, care, and treatment, including HIV stigma and substance abuse; measurement of HIV stigma and its role as a barrier to retention in care and treatment adherence. Non-injection drug use, including prescription opioids, and their role in HIV disease progression, whether through biological, behavioral, or psychosocial mechanisms; understanding pain experiences of HIV patients to identify their trajectory of prescription opioid use and possible alternate treatment strategies to avoid dependence, misuse, or other negative health outcomes.

Research Interests:
Racial/ethnic health disparities; with a focus on research into the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and chronic disease, prevention science, international research into sexual minorities and their substance use behaviors. Additional interests include investigating alcohol and drug use with a focus on cultural factors, tobacco use research, theory research, research methods and data analysis and psychosocial factors. Populations of interest include Chinese MSM and African Americans.

Research Interests:
Inequalities on health and mental health care services provision among Latino children and families. Social determinants of health and the HIV/AIDS among immigrant populations, specially Latinas. Gender, HIV/AIDS and continuum of care navigation among Latino immigrants. Social work and health as a human right. Qualitative and mixed methods research designs.

Research Interests:
Community based HIV risk reduction among African Americans; HIV testing and linkage to care, faith based; multilevel mixed methods approaches to HIV prevention; implementation of evidence based HIV prevention interventions; substance abuse prevention; adolescents and young adult populations.

Research Interests:
HIV prevention in Latino/a communities, with an emphasis on how gender based violence, mental health, and substance use intersect with HIV risk behaviors; intimate partner violence, history of abuse in childhood, psychological distress (e.g., depression and posttraumatic stress disorder), individual- and relationship-level HIV risk factors, dyadic data analysis; U.S. domestic sex trafficking of adolescent girls. Populations of interest: ethnic minority women, female sex workers, sexually exploited adolescents.

Research Interests:
Racial/ethnic health disparities; Acculturation and its related processes in immigrant and refugee health; Barriers to help-seeking, risk and protective factors in HIV and substance use; qualitative and mixed methods research.

Research Interests:
Health disparities in underserved populations; trauma, co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders; treatment-seeking behaviors; social context of sexual risk; culturally relevant health interventions; community-based participatory research; qualitative and mixed-methods designs, including in-depth interviewing, focus groups, focused ethnography, cultural domain analysis, and concept mapping.

Research Interests:
He is interested in how political structures and moral ideologies impact both mental and physical health, particularly among addicts, the homeless, and people with chronic illnesses like HIV. He is also preparing studies focusing on cultural barriers to the use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) among high-risk MSM and the role physical and virtual gay venues have in substance abuse among MSM.

Research Interests:
Culturally appropriate technology-based interventions for vulnerable populations; Intersectionality and biomedical HIV/AIDS prevention; Mixed-methods research designs; Political, economic, social and cultural determinants of HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and trauma; Global HIV implementation science.

Research Interests:
Traumatic exposure and mental health distress among women in South Africa; substance use, including both alcohol and methamphetamine, and how they impact HIV risk behaviors and engagement in HIV care; interventions that address coping behaviors; supporting women during the pregnancy period and post-partum periods on substance use cessation and HIV care engagement.

Research Interests:
In her research, Dr. Rachel Ceasar integrates approaches from anthropology and public health to examine how social contexts shape why people choose to use or abstain from substances. She is a NIDA Diversity Supplement Postdoctoral Scholar at USC where she is examining the impact of cannabis on opioid use among people who inject drugs in Los Angeles, CA. She is currently preparing an K grant project to examine women's motivations and use of cannabis during pregnancy and parenthood.

Research Interests:
Her research focuses on investigating the intersection of HIV and the criminal justice system, health disparities, social exclusion and the social determinants of health. Her expertise includes mixed methods research including qualitative and quantitative analysis. Dr. Brinkley-Rubinstein is currently conducting research that integrates social science perspectives on biomedical HIV prevention techniques among at-risk, criminal justice involved populations.

Research Interests:
Racial/Ethnic/Gender related health disparities that impact the lives of vulnerable and underserved populations; Developing and evaluating behavioral interventions that promote pathways to human well-being; Substance use disorders, including alcohol, and the link to sexual risk behavior patterns; Currently investigating the co-occurring impact of trauma exposure and daily stresses among recently arrived ethnic minority refugee men in the United States; Additional interests include the intersections of gender and health; family violence; global health, and social networks.

Research Interests:
Dr. Sabriya Linton’s research investigates the social epidemiology of substance abuse, HIV and housing insecurity, with specific focus on elucidating the impact of social context, community development and housing policies on these outcomes. She applies multiple methodologies including multilevel, geospatial and qualitative approaches to this line of research.

Research Interests:
Dr. Martinez is the Director of Child and Adolescent Services at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, a publicly-funded outpatient clinic serving youth ages 0-20 in San Francisco County. He is also faculty in two UCSF American Psychological Association accredited training programs: Multicultural Clinical Training Program and the Clinical Psychology Training Program. He is the co-chair of the steering committee for the UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative, an interdisciplinary hub bringing together experts across the UCSF system with the goal of improving the medical and behavioral healthcare of immigrant youth and families. Dr. Martinez also co-founded the Bay Area Health and Legal Partnerships for Immigrant Youth (BAHLI), a consortium of medical, behavioral health, and legal providers working on policy and advocacy work to improve conditions for youth in the United States immigration court system. His research focuses on examining impact of social determinants on mental health disparities among Latinx youth populations; examination of community-engagement frameworks to inform implementation science efforts targeting newcomer immigrant youth; coalition building and health-legal partnerships.

Research Interests:
Developing behavioral interventions to reduce sexual risk, examining disparities in HIV and STIs among vulnerable populations, and investigating the role of social, cultural, and psychological factors on sexual risk and drug using behavior.

Research Interests:
Health equity among underrepresented and underserved adolescent and young adult populations; socio-structural determinants of HIV infection and subsequent progression along the HIV Care Continuum; community-based participatory research; system science methods to inform intervention development and adaptation; program evaluation, dissemination and implementation; substance use prevention; mHealth; impact of HIV-related trauma and moral agency on mental health and medication adherence among HIV-positive youth; facilitation of youth-adult partnerships to increase community engagement & cohesion, and collective efficacy and decrease stigma.

Research Interests:
Examining the social processes that create and perpetuate racial and ethnic disparities in HIV. Her research has examined the intersection of individual level experiences of discrimination, macro-level neighborhood characteristics and social network relationships on high-risk drug and sexual behaviors. Dr. Crawford's research aims to inform structural interventions and policies that reduce substance use, high-risk drug and sexual behaviors, and ultimately racial and ethnic disparities in HIV. Dr. Crawford received her PhD in Epidemiology from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and completed her post-doctoral training at the University of Michigan as a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar .

Research Interests:
Focuses on sexual and reproductive health, and on childbearing decision-making for women living with HIV/AIDS, with a particular focus on the role of social stigma. Currently collaborating with the UCSF Women’s HIV Program to implement and evaluate a new model of trauma-informed primary care that acknowledges and addresses the impact of current and lifelong trauma (abuse, neglect, structural violence) on the lives and health outcomes of women living with HIV.Also, examining the experience of prescription opiate tapering on providers and patients in a clinical setting.

Erik D. Storholm, Ph.D. is an Associate Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist.

Research Interests:
Primary research interests are the area of health disparities, specifically in the development, implementation, and evaluation of individual and community-based interventions that focus on mental health, substance abuse, and the prevention of HIV/STI transmission among high-risk minority populations.

Assistant Professor, Department of Prevention and Community Health, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health
Associate Research Scientist, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health

Research Interests:
Dr. Tamara Taggart conducts socioepidemiologic studies to examine the contextual (e.g., neighborhoods and social networks) and cultural (e.g., religiosity, racial identity, and masculinity) determinants of health, and then uses CBPR methods to develop and implement interventions to reduce HIV risk and substance use among racial/ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents and emerging adults. Her current work focuses on three areas: (1) Applying a community engaged framework to examine systems level factors associated with PrEP uptake among adolescents; (2) Utilizing activity space assessments and biopsychosocial models of stress to examine the mechanisms connecting discriminatory neighborhood environments and HIV-related behaviors; and (3) Investigating the role of religion, spirituality, and religious institutions on HIV syndemics.

Research Interests:
Focusing on health disparities that impact at-risk and underserved populations. More specifically, developing and evaluating culturally appropriate behavioral interventions that improve health outcomes among African Americans. Currently investigating the impact of community violence and stress on substance use, high risk sexual behaviors, and treatment related outcomes among African American transitional age youth in public housing environments. Currently in the early development stage of investigating the feasibility of using social media to recruit and engage African Americans in a substance use disorder intervention. Broader research interests include mHealth, neighborhood context, community based participatory research, and social justice as it relates to substance use and HIV infection and progression.

Research Interests:
Dawn Bounds is an assistant professor in the College of Nursing and Department of Psychiatry Section of Population Behavioral Health at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Bounds’ program of research is focused on the risk and resilience of youth. Her research has addressed gaps in both policy and practice related to commercial sexual exploitation/sex trafficking and exposes the social factors that contribute to the exploitation of vulnerable people. Her current research focuses on adapting and piloting a family re-engagement intervention to explore its impact on preventing recurrent sexual exploitation in newly homeless youth with particular attention to African American and LGBT youth.

Research Interests:
Elizabeth Kim’s research focuses on expanding the understanding of the school-to-prison pipeline and examining effective practice strategies as alternatives to youth incarceration. The goal of her research agenda is to build and translate evidence for strengths-based policy and practice that promote positive development of young people instead of criminalizing and stigmatizing them. Her research broadly covers two areas: 1) basic and applied research on justice system-involved youth; 2) alternative schools research as a linkage for the school-to-prison pipeline. Her justice system research relies on close collaboration with county court systems using administrative data to uncover specific treatment needs probation youth bring as they come in contact with the justice system. Her alternative schools research uses statewide youth survey to understand the phenomenon of alternative schools (e.g., what they are, who they serve) and offer potential opportunities to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. Together, her research seeks to reduce mental, emotional, and behavioral health inequity experienced primarily by youth of color over the life course.

Research Interests:
Dr. Standifer is a Health Science Specialist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Her current research advances the science of ehealth technology application to improve the quality of life for Veteran care. Her expertise is in qualitative and quantitative methods research and evaluation, community-based participatory research, Veteran and community engagement, women’s healthcare, along with implementation and health services research. Her research focuses on developing, administering, and conducting studies that effectively implement tailored strategies to reduce social determinants related to vulnerable populations (e.g. women, Veterans, medically underserved).

Research Interests:
Focusing on individual-, relationship-, community-, and societal-level determinants of gender-based violence and examines the health implications of gender-based violence in order to develop interventions to reduce violence and improve mental, sexual, and reproductive health. One of my most active areas of research examines gender-based violence and its interaction with HIV risk factors and prevention methods using novel epidemiological approaches. For example, this work currently investigates: 1) the acceptability of biomedical HIV prevention for women experiencing intimate partner violence, 3) the influence of social networks on uptake of biomedical HIV prevention among women experiencing intimate partner violence, and 3) the feasibility of a multisector HIV prevention collaboration for women experiencing intimate partner violence.

Research Interests:
Focusing on HIV and aging; investigating associations among physical, social, mental health, and cognitive functions and how to improve those functions. Also investigating complexity among people living with HIV, particularly substance use and trauma among HIV-positive men who have sex with men.

Research Interests:
According to Finkelhor and associates, trauma exposure remains a major public health concern among adolescents, with 50-70% of adolescents estimated to have experienced some form of victimization in their lifetime. Dr. Goodrum’s research investigates family- and community-level factors that influence youth adjustment among families experiencing unique stressors. Her work currently centers on the intersection of parenting, traumatic stress, HIV risk, and adolescent substance use. She is interested in parents’ role in promoting adolescent health and preventing the intergenerational transmission of risk. The goal of her research is to eliminate health disparities by using knowledge about risk and protective factors to guide the development of family-based, trauma-informed prevention and intervention efforts. This work will have a public health impact in multiple areas by bolstering family relationships, preventing incidence of HIV and substance abuse among trauma-affected youth, and reducing the mental health burden of trauma exposure.

Research Interests:
Dr. Julii Green completed her doctoral training in clinical psychology at the University of North Dakota and subsequent post-doctoral training at UCSF and UC Berkeley, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Psy.D. Dept at CSPP/Alliant International University. Her research interests are: Racial/ethnic health disparities; Exploration of the impact of gender based violence on health conditions (e.g. metabolic disorders); Mental health outcomes, discrimination processes, and help seeking behaviors of American Indian/Alaska Natives.

Research Interests:
Dr. Lea’s research and scholarship investigates the intersectionality of race/ethnicity, class, and gender in educational, correctional and neighborhood contexts, and the impact these issues have on the health and well-being of young Black men and boys at risk and involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Specifically, this research examines young adult (18-25) Black men’s risk and resilience processes during their reentry from correctional facilities to high-stress urban neighborhoods (i.e., poverty, violence/crime, and racial discrimination). This research also investigates the social-cultural assets within correctional and community-based reentry programs that can promote healthy development and protect against the negative impact stress has on their risk of HIV infection, substance abuse, and criminal activity. Overall, his program of research seeks to develop knowledge and build theory that informs policies, practices, and interventions that can promote resilience and healthy development among young Black men and boys’ as well as lessen their risk for health compromising behaviors, arrest, incarceration, and recidivism.

Research Interests:
According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), there is limited data on the health needs and health care utilization patterns of the LGBT individuals. Dr. Nation’s research focuses on HIV/AIDS, substance use, young black men who have sex with men (MSM), minority transgender youth, LGBT health care and mental health care access. His study, Health Care and Mental Health Care Experiences Among LGBT Populations in Orange County, will examine the current experiences and needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population when they are accessing health care and mental health services. Additional information obtained will include health care and mental health patterns, locations, adequacy of LGBT-friendly providers. This study will be the first of its kind in Orange County.

Research Interests:
Dr. Ebor’s research and scholarship examines health outcomes for older racial and ethnic minority women. Specifically, her research examines sexual health disparities by developing behavioral health interventions with a particular interest in harnessing multi-media platforms for health promotion and disease prevention. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods Dr. Ebor’s scholarship focuses on the ways in which the intersections of age, race and gender impact the sexual and reproductive health of older African American women. This research is grounded in her practice experience and interdisciplinary training in gerontology and social welfare.

Research Interests:
Dr. Thompson’s research interests include learning health system science to integrate care for substance misuse and HIV risk. He is currently engaged in learning health systems research concerning an inpatient SBIRT intervention to address substance misuse such as opioid and alcohol dependence. He also recently evaluated a systems-level collaborative care model implementation to prevent and treat depression across the Rush primary care and specialty clinics. Another thread of his research includes transgender health disparities. Alongside working at Rush University Medical Center, Dr. Thompson is a K12 faculty scholar in the ACCLERAT program at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Medical Social Science. His training has been interdisciplinary, combining elements of community health sciences, social epidemiology, and electronic security and privacy.

Research Interests:
Dr. Galano’s research investigates how factors across the social ecology (e.g., parenting, social and community support, interpersonal and structural discrimination) influence adjustment following violence exposure, especially as it occurs in early life. As a translational scientist, Dr. Galano’s research on intervention efficacy guides basic research questions, and her basic research identifies mechanisms that can become novel targets of interventions. Through community-engaged research and intervention, Dr. Galano aims to support survivors and their families, improve well-being, and disrupt cycles of violence.

Research Interests:
Dr. Banks’ research seeks to understand and prevent behavioral health problems that affect racially minoritized and socio-demographically disadvantaged communities. She is especially interested in the prevention of racial health disparities related to substance use and sexual behavior. Currently, her lines of research concern: 1) how traditional risk and resilience factors for substance use and sexual behavior interact with cultural resilience factors and race-related stress, 2) exploring treatment strategies to reduce the burden of opioid-related death among Black Americans, 3) mobile assessment and intervention approaches to improve the accessibility of substance use research and treatment among diverse adolescents. The ultimate goal of her work is to improve behavioral health equity via accessible, culturally-relevant interventions targeting risk reduction and resiliency building during adolescence and young adulthood.

Research Interests:
Dr. Bartholomew’s research lies at the intersection of culture and healing and focuses on contextual understandings of mental illness, refugee mental health, and psychological intervention. As such, he uses quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches to explore the meaning of mental illness in specific cultural groups, the factors that make psychotherapy effective, and social inequities that influence experiences of mental illness. His current projects include a community-based assessment of mental health needs and literacy among Karen and Karenni refugees in resettled in Ft. Wayne Indiana, exploration of suicidality among the Namibian Aawambo, and mental illness explanations among Chin refugees resettled in Indiana. Exploring mental illness and distress in these areas is facilitated by attention to cultural contexts and additional social factors like potential persistence of substance abuse in some of these communities. Dr. Bartholomew also explores factors like cultural comfort, positive affect, and hope in psychotherapy to better understand how mental health intervention can be an effective modality of care across cultures when cultural humility, openness, and comfort exist. In this work, he also aims to recognize that a singular prioritization of psychotherapy may not meet the healing needs of all individuals for whom different traditions and beliefs systems persist. His aim in exploring the intersection of culture and mental illness is to address areas of inequity and inadequate care provided to marginalized individuals for whom treatment is potentially inaccessible and ill-fitting to their own belief systems.

Research Interests:
Dr. Kevon Jackman is an HIV Epidemiologist and Prevention Scientist who has focused his career as an STI/HIV interventionalist on the design and implementation health information technology (Health IT) tools that empower youth to engage in their sexual and reproductive health. He has designed and implemented mixed-methods studies to understand perceptions of college-aged youth on using portals for receiving STI/HIV test results and for sharing electronic results with partners (R36 HS023057-01). His early dissertation research is one of the first studies to demonstrate that minoritized youth believe that access to their electronic personal health records improves the occurrence of STI testing communication between partners and the accuracy of screening information shared between partners. His work has led to the development of novel psychometric scales measuring patient portal performance expectancies to support STI/HIV prevention behaviors.

Research Interests:
Dr Novacek’s current research encompasses two directions, both of which aim to improve community integration among individuals who have experienced homelessness. The first line focuses on examining whether there are racial differences in community integration and identifying psychosocial predictors of community integration to inform the development of culturally congruent rehabilitative interventions for homeless-experienced Black Veterans. The second line of research aims to develop a reliable and valid measure of self-stigma for individuals who have experienced homelessness.

Research Interests:
Dr. Zhen-Duan’s research program falls into two mains areas: 1) the use of community-based participatory research approaches to address health disparities and 2) examining the biological mechanisms (i.e., epigenetic, neuroendocrine) linking childhood traumatic stress and and substance use among Latinx youth.

Research Interests:
Dr. Berke’s research broadly focuses on identifying risk and resilience factors associated with victimization and adaptation to traumatic harm, particularly among women and sexual and gender minorities. Specifically, her program of research comprises three primary foci 1) identifying determinants of gender-based violence using laboratory and epidemiological research methods; 2) understanding the consequences of violence on transgender individuals via application of biosocial and minority stress models of heath disparity; and 3) evaluation of violence prevention and trauma-informed clinical interventions. A fundamental end goal of this research program is to reduce gender-based violence and its consequences through the application of empirically grounded theory to the development, tailoring and implementation of violence prevention and clinical intervention programming.

Research Interests:
Dr. Brooks' research focuses on the health and well-being of queer and transgender people of color (QTPoC). His work is at the intersection of stigma, identity development, positive psychology, and clinical health psychology. Dr. Brooks primarily examines how the identity development process influences mental health and health behaviors among QTPoC within the context of other syndemic factors that increase risk for HIV and poor health outcomes.

Research Interests:
Dr. Mahaffey’s research focuses on HIV health disparities among Black men. Specifically, Dr. Mahaffey uses a community-engaged research approach and the social-ecological model to examining the intersection of race, culture, and HIV risk; aiming to understand the syndemic of risks and its impact on Black, sexual minority men.

Research Interests:
Dr. Nutor’s research focuses on understanding the impact of environmental, social and economic factors on the health of women and children in low resource countries, with particular focus on HIV/AIDS. He integrates information on the socioeconomic status of HIV positive women in sub-Sharan Africa, including access to water, hygiene, and sanitation, with information on their health, in the context of socioecological theory and theory of planned behavior.

Research Interests:
Dr. Joya Hampton-Anderson's program of research aims to understand the sociocultural determinants of health disparities and integrated health outcomes in youth and families, with a particular interest in childhood adversity and chronic stress. She is interested in risk and protective factors that influence mental and physical health diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment with a specific interest in culturally competent clinical practice and research. She uses mixed methods to pursue two primary lines of inquiry: 1) What are the mechanisms by which childhood stress and adversity influence psychological distress and health-related behaviors? 2) How do we best design and implement culturally competent interventions to reduce health disparities?

Research Interests:
Dr. De La Rue’s research adopts a social-ecological framework, which aims to delineate the gendered, cultural, and contextual associations of violence and victimization and the intersection with substance misuse. She is especially interested in the experience of girls and womxn who are impacted by violence, with the aim of changing systems to be more responsive and accountable to the needs of diverse womxn. This includes advocating for strategies that disrupt punitive reactions to trauma.

Research Interests:
As a public health social worker, Dr. Craddock’s work is strongly committed to understanding the impacts of digital technologies on human development and social interaction, and using this work to decrease health disparities and enhance community and public health social work interventions. Dr. Craddock’s principal scholarship leverages social networks and network dynamics to decrease new HIV incidences within Black communities, and plan is to engage young Black adults in the development and testing of a mHealth-based HIV preventive intervention for young Black adults that can deiminated in social networks of young Black adults.

Research Interests:
Dr. Ryan E. Flinn’s research interests include: the well-being among people living with HIV, prevention and health promotion, mental health help-seeking, integrated behavioral health care, substance use disorder treatment, sexual health and wellness, and trauma-informed mental health care.

Research Interests:
Racial/ethnic health disparities; with a focus on discrimination processes, cultural variables and the stereotypes/model minority myth associated with mental health outcomes and help seeking attitudes among Asian/South Asian Americans. Additional interests include investigating intimate partner violence with a focus on cultural factors, immigration/generation status, and acculturation levels. Populations of interest include Asian and South Asian Americans.

Research Interests:
Racial/ethnic health disparities in sexually transmitted infections (STIs), particularly HIV/AIDS; the social context of individual-level risk behaviors for HIV/AIDS; neighborhood social and economic factors; the formation of and risk behaviors in sexual networks; childhood sexual abuse and HIV/AIDS, and gender and power. Populations of interest include adolescents and women.

Research Interests:
Racial/ethnic and gender related health disparities; mental health of African American women, substance abuse; family adjustment to parental HIV; access to and utilization of available health services; HIV treatment adherence; peer and family-based social networks and support; quality of life. Theoretical interests include gender role socialization; race and gender theory; family dynamics, social support and stress.

Research Interests:
Intimate partner violence with a focus on sexual violence, HIV risk behaviors, substance abuse, mental health outcomes, reproductive health outcomes and behaviors, and gender symmetry. Populations of interests include women who are minority or underserved, heterosexual or bisexual, pregnant, trafficked, or indigent.