Tamara Taggart
Tamara Taggart
Assistant Professor
School: Milken Institute School of Public Health
Department: Prevention and Community Health
Contact:
Dr. Tamara Taggart conducts socioepidemiologic studies to examine the social-structural (e.g., structural racism, intersectional stigma, and neighborhoods) and cultural identity factors that influence health behaviors, and then uses CBPR approaches to develop and implement interventions to improve HIV-related outcomes and reduce substance use/abuse among racial/ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents and emerging adults. Her current work focuses on three areas: (1) Applying a community engaged framework to examine systems level factors associated with HIV prevention and treatment; (2) Utilizing activity space assessments and biopsychosocial models of stress to examine the mechanisms connecting discriminatory neighborhood environments and HIV-related behaviors; and (3) Investigating the role of religion, spirituality, and religious institutions on HIV syndemics. Integrating techniques, theories, and concepts from epidemiology, psychology, and sociology, the ultimate goal of Dr. Taggart's program of research is to reduce health disparities and improve the health of adolescents and adults.
Behavioral Health
Health Disparities
HIV/AIDS
Prevention
Program Evaluation
Social Determinants of Health
Substance Abuse Prevention & Cessation
AB, Dartmouth College (2003)
MPH, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (2010)
PhD, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health (2016)
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, Yale University (2018)
Dr. Taggart's current projects investigate the ways in which social-structural factors and cultural identity factors influence health behaviors among racial/ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals. She has served as a PI/MPI or Co-I on multiple NIH, CDC, foundation, and other internal and external funded studies including:
- Measuring the Impact of Structural Racism and Discrimination During Adolescence on Substance Use, Psychological Distress, and Criminal Justice Outcomes in Adulthood (R01DA056264)
- Multilevel Strategies to Understand and Modify the Role of Structural and Environmental Context on HIV Inequities for Sexual and Gender Minorities of Color (UG3/UH3AI169655)
- Addressing Intersectional and Social-Structural Barriers to Ending the HIV Epidemic in Black Sexual Minority Men and Black Heterosexual Women (P30AI117970, administrative supplement)
- Developing and Validating New Measures of Multilevel Intersectional Stigma to Improve the HIV Prevention Continuum for Young Black Gay Bisexual and Other Men who Have Sex with Men in the South (R21MH121313)
- Faith, Spirituality, and ART Adherence Among Black Women Living with HIV (P30AI117970, pilot award)
- Advancing Black Women’s Health: Investigating the Biological Embodiment of Intersectional Discrimination (no number, GWU Cross Disciplinary Research Award)
- Using Mixed-Methods and Participatory Approaches to Examine Contextual Stressors and Adolescent and Emerging Adult Well-Being (no number, HopeLab Foundation)
Ransome Y, Valido A, […], Taggart T. (2023) A systematic review of how social connectedness impacts associations between racism and discrimination on health outcomes. Epidemiologic Reviews.
Taggart T, Sawyer S, Andreou A, Kershaw T, Milburn NG. (2023). “But I live here too”: Resiliency among urban dwelling Black emerging adult men experiencing social-structural stressors and racial discrimination. American Journal of Community Psychology.
Taggart T, Ransome Y, Andreou A, Song I, Kershaw T, Milburn NG. (2023). Activity space assessments and neighborhood exposure to racism-related stress and related substance use, among young Black men, Connecticut 2019. American Journal of Public Health.
Taggart T, Rendina HJ, […], Bowleg L. (2022). Stigmatizing spaces and places as axes of intersectional stigma among sexual minority men in HIV prevention research. American Journal of Public Health.
Flores DD, Greene M, Taggart T. (2022). Parent-child sex communication prompts, approaches, reactions, and functions according to gay, bisexual, and queer sons. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Rao S, Albritton T, Pina P, Liang Y, Taggart T. (2021). “You don’t want your parents knowing that you’re taking PrEP”: PrEP stigma among Black and Latinx adolescents. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.
Taggart T, Ritchwood TD, Nyhan K, Ransome Y. (2021). Messaging matters: Achieving equity through public health communication. The Lancet HIV.
Taggart T, Mayer KH, Vermund SH, Huang AS, Hayashi K, Ransome Y. (2021). Interaction of religion/spirituality with internalized HIV stigma, depression, alcohol use, and sexual risk among Black men who have sex with men: The six city HPTN 061 study. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
Taggart T, Powell W, Gottfredson N, Ennett S, Eng E, Chatters LM (2018). A person-centered approach to the study of Black adolescent religiosity, racial identity, and sexual initiation. Journal of Research on Adolescence.
Taggart T, Powell W, Gottfredson N, Ennett S, Eng E, Chatters LM (2018). A person-centered approach to the study of Black adolescent religiosity, racial identity, and sexual initiation. Journal of Research on Adolescence (In Press).
Calabrese SK, Dovidio JF, Tekeste M, Taggart T, Galvao RW, Safon CB, Willie TC, Caldwell A, Kaplan C, Kershaw TS (2018). HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis stigma as a multidimensional barrier to uptake among women who attend Planned Parenthood. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 79(1), 46-53.
Taggart T, Gottfredson N, Powell W, Ennett S, Chatters LM, Carter-Edwards L, Eng E (2018). The Role of Religious Socialization and Religiosity in African American and Caribbean Black Adolescents' Sexual Initiation. Journal of Religion and Health (In Press).
Taggart T, Brown A, Kershaw T (2018). Neighborhood contexts and marijuana use among urban dwelling emerging adult men. American Journal of Men’s Health 12(4), 944-951.
Ritchwood TD, Peasant C, Powell TW, Taggart T, Corbie-Smith G, Akers AY (2018). Predictors of caregiver communication about reproductive and sexual health and sensitive sex topics. Journal of Family Issues, 39(8), 2207-2231.
Taggart T, Ellen J, Arrington-Sanders R (2017). Young African American male-male romantic relationships: Experiences, expectations, and condom use. Journal of LGBT Youth, 14(4), 380-392.