Tamara Taggart
Tamara Taggart
Ph.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor
School: Milken Institute School of Public Health
Department: Prevention and Community Health
Contact:
Milken Institute School of Public Health
950 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20052
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 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:
- A Community Driven Modeling Approach for Identifying Community & Policy-level Interventions to Address the Impact of Structural Racism and Discrimination on Adolescent Substance Use and Mental Health (R01MD019763)
- 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)
Gullahorn B, Kuo I, Robinson AM, Bailey J, Loken J, Taggart T (2024). Identifying facilitators and barriers to the uptake of medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in Washington, DC: A community engaged concept mapping approach. Plos One —Accepted for publication
Taggart T, Smiley S, Ritchwood TD (2023). Advancing public health and social equity through research, training, and action. American Journal of Public Health, 113(S2), S98-S101.
Ransome Y, Valido A, Espelage D, Clements GL, Harrell C, Eckel C, Price N, Nassau R, Nyhan K, Taggart T (2023). A systematic review of how social connectedness impacts associations between racism and discrimination on health outcomes. Epidemiologic Reviews, 45(1), 44-62.
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, 2023, 1-12.
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, 113(S2), S136-S139.
Zota AR, Chu MDT, Marfori CQ, Khati NJ, Al-Hendy A, Taggart T (2022). Adverse childhood events and symptom-related quality of life among women undergoing hysterectomy for uterine leiomyoma. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 227(2), 351-353.
Taggart T, Rendina HJ, Boone CA, Burns P, Carter J, English D, Hull S, Massie JS, Mbaba M, Mena L, del Río-González AM, Shalhav O, Talan AJ, Wolfer C, 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, 112(S4), S371-S373.
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, 33(4), 395-405.
Pina P, Taggart T, Acosta M, Eweka I, Muñoz-Laboy M, Albritton T (2021). Provider comfort with prescribing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to adolescents. AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 35(10), 411-417.
Taggart T, Ritchwood TD, Nyhan K, Ransome Y (2021). Messaging matters: Achieving equity through public health communication. The Lancet HIV, 8(6), e376-e386.
Kudrati S, Hayashi K, Taggart T (2021). Social Media & PrEP: A systematic review of social media campaigns to increase PrEP awareness & uptake among young Black and Latinx MSM and women. AIDS and Behavior, 1-10.
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, 87(2), e188-e197.
Taggart T, Liang Y, Pina P, Albritton T (2020). Awareness of and willingness to use PrEP among Black and Latinx adolescents residing in higher prevalence areas in the United States. Plos One, 15(7): e0234821.
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, 57(5), 1889-1904.
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.
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.
PUBH 6007: Social and Behavioral Approaches to Public Health
PUBH 6534: Community-Based Participatory Research