Left to right, Tulane SPHTM student and Dr. Faith Fletcher

The Women’s Center  was thrilled to host Dr. Faith Fletcher  this summer as a speaker for the Jane Wilson Smith (JWS) Lectureship Series.  Her seminar, entitled Evidenced-based Ethical Approaches to Promote Health Equity Among non-Hispanic African American  Women Living with HIV, was both impactful and cultivated. Dr. Fletcher is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  Her work focuses on developing ethical policies and strategies to alleviate vulnerability to HIV-related stigma associated with health care setting and research study engagement. The overall goal of her research program is to develop and implement community-based and clinic-based social and behavioral research to reduce HIV-related disparities among African American women. During the seminar, she discussed how to overcome challenges that may arise while conducting research and the importance of establishing trust with participants  that may face stigmas associated with their HIV status. Dr. Fletcher’s seminar offered valuable insight on how to interact with study participants who may be particularly vulnerable due their stigmatization.