Jennifer Stewart, PhD, RN
Jennifer Stewart, PhD, RN
Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing,
Assistant Professor
Dr. Jennifer Stewart is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. As a nurse, educator and researcher she has continued to be committed to reducing the staggering rates of HIV and AIDS among African Americans. This work has focused primarily on engaging the African American church, a pivotal community based organization in the African American community. As a crucial partner in development and implementation of HIV risk reduction interventions, Dr. Stewart has worked alongside African American churches in reducing HIV rates for over a decade. Her research has revealed that despite historic and contemporary tensions around sexuality, innovative multi-level structural approaches can promote uptake of interventions that prevent HIV and promote HIV testing and linkage to care in African American churches and their surrounding communities. Several studies funded by the National Institutes of Health have supported this important community based work and allowed Dr. Stewart to implement programs to reduce rates of HIV and increase HIV testing among men and women of all ages, their families and their friends. An enduring belief that the community is at the center of HIV prevention, care and support, has fueled Dr. Stewart’s passion to reduce the disproportionately high rates of HIV among underserved communities.