Africa Initiative

Abigail Harrison is Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the School of Public Health, Faculty Associate at the Center for Global Public Health and Faculty Lead for the MPH in Global Public Health. She conducts research on global HIV prevention, reproductive health and health disparities among adolescents and young women, with a primary focus on South Africa, other locations in sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria, and the United States. At Brown, she also teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses in global health. Harrison's current research addresses the intersections of violence and HIV in South African schools, the health and social needs of adolescents living with HIV, and the development of HIV prevention interventions for adolescent girls and young women using multidisciplinary implementation science approaches. She also studies women's reproductive decision-making in the context of contraceptive use and PrEP for HIV prevention. Harrison's research emphasizes qualitative methods and community-based participatory approaches, in addition to intervention development and evaluation. Harrison is co-investigator on multiple NIH-funded research awards, and has also received mentorship funding and awards focused on training the next generation of researchers in HIV social science and women's reproductive health in South Africa, Nigeria and the United States.