Stigma Reduction Among People with HIV to Improve Health Outcomes

Part of the Integrated Care Series, Dr. Deepa Rao presents socio-behavioral and mental health-related barriers to engagement in care for people with HIV. She will also discuss research to develop stigma reduction interventions to help people with HIV achieve HIV viral suppression and improve their overall quality of life.

Speaker: Deepa Rao, PhD, MA is Professor in the Departments of Global Health and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and her professional interests are to implement effective interventions to improve mental health and reduce stigma for people with various conditions such as breast and cervical cancer, HIV, diabetes, and depression. She works in the United States on stigma reduction efforts, in South Africa on building mental health research capacity, and in India with pregnant women with depressive symptoms and experiences of domestic violence. She is the Associate Director of the Center for AIDS Research Behavioral Science Core, Associate Director of Global Mental Health, and the Associate Director of the M.P.H. program in Global Health at the University of Washington.