The Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention, part of the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, recently awarded four doctoral students in public health from around the nation with grants to help them further their research into specific public health topics.

“These two annual, nationally-competitive, endowed grants will be given in perpetuity to honor the lives and careers of two exceptional public health figures – Dr. Doug Kirby and Dr. C. Everett Koop,” says William L. Yarber, senior director of the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention, professor at the IU School of Public Health, and senior scientist at the Kinsey Institute. “The grants are meant to encourage and support research by emerging investigators from a wide range of disciplines.”

Doug Kirby Adolescent Sexual Health Research Grant

First awarded during the 2014-2015 academic year, the Doug Kirby Adolescent Sexual Health Research Grant is a $1,000, endowed grant awarded annually to support doctoral student research related to the sexual health of adolescents and youth. Dr. Kirby was an internationally-renowned authority on adolescent sexual health through his research on the impact of school and community-based programs designed to reduce sexual risk behavior among youth. During his lifetime, he authored more than 100 scientific articles, chapters, and books.

The 2017 recipients of the Doug Kirby Adolescent Sexual Health Research Grant are Malachi Willis from the University of Arkansas, and Riley J. Steiner from Emory University.

Willis, a doctoral student and Distinguished Academy Fellow in the Community Health Promotion program at the University of Arkansas, is working on a study entitled The Dynamics of Sexual Consent and Sexual Precedent: A daily diary study. He earned master’s degrees in forensic psychology from Marymount University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and broadly researches the sexuality of college students with a focus on the role of consent communication.

Steiner is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She is completing a qualitative study looking at the differences in condom use by contraceptive type. Steiner earned a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and focuses her research on adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

Surgeon General C. Everett Koop HIV/AIDS Research Grant

The Surgeon General C. Everett Koop HIV/AIDS Research Grant, first awarded during the 2012-2013 academic year, is a $1,250 annual endowed grant to support doctoral student research related to HIV/AIDS prevention. As early as 1986, Dr. Koop completed a report on the growing AIDS epidemic and urged the expansion of age-appropriate sexuality education for young people, including a campaign about the importance of using condoms to prevent HIV transmission. He received the Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award from the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention in 2010.

The 2017 recipients of the Surgeon General C. Everett Koop HIV/AIDS Research Grant are Joyell Arscott from Duke University, and Tiara C. Willie from Yale University.

Arscott is a Ph.D. candidate in Nursing at Duke University and is working on a study entitled Likely Use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for Young African American Men who have Sex with Men. She is a registered nurse and earned her undergraduate degree in nursing from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Upon graduation, Arscott plans to continue her program of research focusing on adolescent and young adult sexual and reproductive health, LGBTQ health, HIV/STI prevention, and health disparities.

Willie, a Ph.D. candidate in Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, is a predoctoral fellow in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Interdisciplinary HIV Prevention Training Program at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS. Her study, She’s PrEPared: The impact of intimate partner violence on women’s engagement in PrEP care, continues her research focus on the etiology and health consequences of gender-based violence, domestically and globally.

For more information about the grant recipients and the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention, please visit www.indiana.edu/~aids/student-funding/.