Current Projects
The Black Professors Study
Faculty of color remain significantly underrepresented in academic medical centers despite ongoing diversity initiatives. They constitute a small percentage of full-time faculty, with representation declining at higher ranks. Research shows that faculty of color often face systemic barriers that shape career trajectories, underscoring the need for stronger institutional support. While many studies emphasize outcomes like promotion, far less is known about how academic environments affect health and well-being. Existing faculty cohort studies rarely examine dimensions such as sleep quality and mental health, even though emerging evidence suggests these are significant concerns.
We are conducting a pilot study of 250 Black Professors and examining how workplace experiences, productivity, sleep, and mental health intersect for faculty of color. Findings will test recruitment and assessment methods, highlight differences across faculty groups, and provide preliminary data to launch the larger Black Professors Study (BPS)—a planned nationwide cohort of 5,000 Black faculty.”
Promoting Social Capital for increased HIV prevention and care among sexual minority men in Nairobi, Kenya (TUJUANE)
The proposed pilot study will inform an R01 application to be submitted to the National Institutes of Health (PAR23-062). The goal of this R01 is to implement and evaluate a social capital intervention to promote HIV-related health behaviors among 350 Black sexual minority men in Nairobi Kenya. Black sexual minority men (SMM) in sub-Saharan Africa have one of the highest HIV burdens of any key population sub-group in the world. Strikingly, SMM in the region have low rates of repeat HIV testing, coupled with low consistent use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and low antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence rates.
Project SNATCHED: Pilot Testing Social Media Network Influences on Substance Use, Mental Health, and HIV Risk among Black MSM in NYC Men
Social Network and Technology-Driven Health Equity Research among Black MSM in NYC
The study addresses critical gaps in understanding the role of new and emerging social networks—particularly digital platforms such as Grindr, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter)—in shaping cannabis and other substance use behaviors, mental health outcomes (e.g., anxiety), and HIV risk among Black MSM in New York City. Despite high HIV incidence11 and disproportionate mental health burdens as well as substance use in this group,12 few studies have applied real-time, tech-enabled data collection methods to examine these issues through a networked and spatial lens. This study aims to explore how individuals’ exposure to curated social content and peer behaviors on digital platforms may influence perceptions of normative substance use, mental health status, and sexual risk-taking, ultimately contributing to disparities in health outcomes through pilot ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and GPS-based methods to capture real-time experiences of Black men who have sex with men (MSM) across digital and geographic contexts.
The Health Equity Research Production Model (HERPM) and The Black Professors Study (BPS)
The Health Equity Research Production Model (HERPM) is a transdisciplinary framework designed to center justice, equity and accountability in the research process, particularly for studies engaging structurally marginalized populations. HERPM guides The Black Professors Study (BPS), a national study of 1,000 Black faculty across diverse higher education settings, by reframing research as a site of healing, redistribution, and structural intervention.
Developing: Project HILM: Humility, Identity, Language, and Mental Health among Muslim Sexual Minority Men.
The Neighborhoods and Networks (N2) Cohort Study
As a population, Black gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) face high risks for HIV. HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an exciting new biomedical prevention strategy, but its implementation among and uptake by Black MSM has been inconsistent.
N2 is a longitudinal cohort study that aims to better understand the environmental (i.e., neighborhood) and social (i.e., network) factors that effect PrEP uptake and adherence among HIV negative Black MSM. With sites in Chicago, IL, New Orleans, LA, Jackson, MS, and Baton Rouge, LA, N2 has recruited hundreds of men, who are providing details information on their neighborhood-level exposures and environments (including through GPS technology) and their social and sexual networks.
N2 is also being used to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected communities of Black MSM, including in terms of HIV risk. To learn more about this study, check out the protocol published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Trying to Understand Relationships, Networks and Neighborhoods among Trans women of color
Transgender (‘trans’) women of color experience unique needs and challenges in the context of their health and well-being. We need innovative research to better understand and respond to these needs.
TURNNT is a longitudinal cohort study funded by the National Institutes of Health, which will collected data from 300 trans women of Black, African American, Latina/Latix, and Asian and Pacific Islander background in New York City.
Detailed movement data will be collected via Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, which will assess exposure to different kinds of urban environments. Further, data on participants’ social and sexual networks will be gathered to explore how relationships and networks influence health and well-being in the context of HIV and more broadly.
Enrollment in TURNNT is open! Please visit www.turnnt.com to take part. Also, check out the TURNNT protocol published in the journal BMC Open.