Research conducted by CPRC members in this PRA includes reproductive health, but also extends to a wide spectrum of issues related to sexual health across the life course, including sexual violence, sex education, HIV and sexually transmitted infections, and sexual well-being, more broadly. Across diverse contexts, our researchers examine the social, institutional, economic, and cultural contexts that shape sexual health, with particular strengths in HIV prevention and care as well as population-level patterns of reproductive health drivers and outcomes. Notably, our portfolio includes cutting edge research that advances a rights-based approach to sexual health and that has direct programmatic and policy implications.
Leadership
Veronica Barcelona, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University School of Nursing, a public health nurse, and a reproductive epidemiologist. Her program of research is focused on understanding preterm birth through the study of epigenomics, stressors such as racism and discrimination, and cardiovascular risk factors. Barcelona assesses electronic health records to examine the use of stigmatizing language and how it affects maternal morbidity outcomes. Through the utilization of multi-omic methods, she hopes to reduce inequities in pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes for women and families of color.
Dr. Brooke S. West is an Assistant Professor at the Columbia School of Social Work and Faculty Affiliate of the Social Intervention Group (SIG). As a medical sociologist, Dr. West’s research focuses on the social, economic, physical and policy factors underlying inequities in health among marginalized and criminalized populations, both globally and domestically. Drawing on both social science and public health approaches, her work centers primarily on the social and structural determinants of substance use and HIV/STI, with newer work examining violence exposure and reproductive health. Dr. West is the principal investigator on a NIDA-funded study that examines the intersection of venue-based risk and networks for substance-using women in Tijuana, Mexico, with the goal of capturing the dynamic and overlapping nature of risk environments and how connections to and movement between places can confer health risks. The integration of place-based and network methods, both of which have wide applicability for addressing health inequities in diverse settings, will inform the development of novel intervention approaches that seek to reshape environments and create safer spaces. Dr. West also works on projects related to overdose among women and the health of women more broadly, including the evaluation and development of sexual and reproductive health programs in Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, and the United States. Before joining the School of Social Work, Dr. West was an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) with a dual appointment in the Department of Sociology. Prior to her appointment as an Assistant Professor at UCSD she was a Postdoctoral Fellow on a T32 focused on substance use and infectious diseases. Dr. West received her Ph.D. in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and her M.A. in Sociology from Cornell University.