Akua Gyamerah

DrPH, MPH

Dr. Akua Gyamerah, assistant professor.

Akua Gyamerah

DrPH, MPH

Akua Gyamerah

DrPH, MPH

Research Topics

HIV prevention and care; health disparities among sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) populations; intersectional stigma and discrimination; sexual and gender minority stress and mental health; gender-based violence and substance use

Overview

Summary

Akua O. Gyamerah, DrPH, MPH, is a sociomedical scientist with training in HIV prevention and care, qualitative, and mixed methods research. Her research broadly aims to understand the multilevel and intersectional determinants of health disparities among racial, sexual and gender minorities, including how historical and socio-structural factors such as racism, intersectional stigma, violence and criminalization shape disease outcomes among these populations. She completed the Traineeships in AIDS Prevention Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship—a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded T32 fellowship—at the University of California, San Francisco’s Center for AIDS Prevention Studies. Over the past decade, Gyamerah has conducted research in the areas of sexual rights, sexual health, minority stress and HIV, with a focus on general and LGBTQ populations in Africa and in the U.S. Gyamerah has two current projects. The first, funded by NIMH’s K01 Research Career Development Award, examines how intersectional social stressors affect mental health and HIV treatment outcomes among HIV-positive gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. Her second project, funded by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's Diversity Supplement, explores the impact of gender-based violence and the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol use and alcohol treatment among gender minorities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Training

  • Postdoctoral training in HIV prevention research, University of California; San Francisco, Calif.

Education

  • DrPH, Sociomedical Sciences Department, Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University; New York, N.Y.
  • Graduate Certificate in Feminist Scholarship, Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Columbia University; New York, N.Y.
  • MPH, Columbia University; New York, N.Y.
  • BA, Cornell University; Ithaca, N.Y.

Professional Affiliations

  • International AIDS Society
  • American Public Health Association
  • African Studies Association