Shonali M. Choudhury, Ph.D.

• Research Assistant Professor, University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies

• Member, Community Research Core, CIRA

Biography:

Shonali M. Choudhury holds a Ph.D. in public health with concentrations in community health and feminist studies. Her previous work experiences include: health planner at the Newark EMA HIV Health Services Planning Council, researcher and trainer for the Datos y Democracia project of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and researcher/evaluator at the Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos (CEHDL) and the Center for Risk Reduction at the Hispanic Health Council in Hartford. Her research interests include social support and sexual risk among Latinas, identity and agency among vulnerable populations, informal and formal organizing among sex workers, and substance use/misuse and HIV risk. She has methodological expertise in qualitative methods including grounded theory and ethnography. Previous research experience includes a grounded theory study of identity and HIV risk among female sex workers in Tijuana, Mexico. A paper from this research was awarded the Elizabeth Blackwell, MD Award from the UCLA Center for the Study of Women. She has taught courses on program evaluation, women and HIV/AIDS, and social justice and public health at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Quinnipiac University. Shonali is a member of Delta Omega, the honor society in Public Health. She is also a member of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and a board member of the Population Sexual and Reproductive Health section of the American Public Health Association (APHA).