Dr. Marguerita Lightfoot, PhD, has been appointed the Associate Dean for Research at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, beginning September 1, 2021. Dean David Bangsberg announced the appointment, noting Dr. Lightfoot’s long track record of National Institute of Health funding, including center grants, training grants, and independent R01 support.
“Dr. Lightfoot’s commitment to promoting health and an equitable society, and her core values of social justice, service, integrity, ethics, impact, and excellence align completely with those of the School of Public Health,” noted Dean Bangsberg. “I look forward to working with her to increase the visibility and public health impact of our faculty’s research and to expand diversity, address equity, and create inclusive spaces within our School.” To support these goals, Dr. Lightfoot will be nominated as the Naito-McAnulty Endowed Professor in Health Equity thanks to the generous support of the Elizabeth Anderson and the Ronald M. Naito Foundation.
“I’m excited to become part of the community at the School of Public Health,” said Dr. Lightfoot. “As a first generation college student myself, I look forward to helping to create opportunities for first generation and BIPOC students, as well as cultivate opportunities for undergraduates to grow the research pipeline.”
With expertise in the social determinants of health and health equity, she added that she is particularly eager to deepen the investment in the School’s anti-racism work, which includes dedicated support for an Antiracism Initiative.
Dr. Lightfoot’s research focus has been on improving the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults, as well as the development of culturally competent, efficacious interventions to reduce acquisition and transmission of HIV among populations disproportionately burdened by the epidemic. She has been the Principal Investigator on numerous R01 and other R-level grants, as well as center grants and foundation grants, including from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, and others.
Her domestic and international research has included developing interventions for youth experiencing homelessness, juvenile justice involved adolescents, youth in medical clinics, youth with a parent living with HIV or who are living with HIV themselves, and young men who have sex with men, among others, with a focus on developing interventions for delivery via technology (e.g., computers, websites, mobile phone, video games). This included developing a computer-based intervention to reduce the sexual risk behaviors of delinquent youth (published in the American Journal of Public Health), successfully adapting an intervention for youth living with HIV to youth in Uganda (published in Prevention Science), and developing a computer-based intervention implemented in medical settings to reduce the HIV transmission risk behavior of adults living with HIV (published in JAIDS).
She is currently a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, where she is concurrently Chief for the Division of Prevention Science; Director of the NIMH-funded Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS, P30); Director of the CDC-funded UCSF Prevention Research Center (U48); Director of the Substance Use and HIV Prevention Research Training Program (R25); and holds the Walter Gray Endowed Chair in HIV Science. Previously she was an Associate Research Psychologist in Psychology and Co-Director of the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services, Intervention Core, at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In addition to her many publications and grants, Dr. Lightfoot has received significant honors for her work, including most recently the Chancellor Award for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Leadership at UCSF.
Dr. Lightfoot received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.