Rodrigo Aguayo Romero

PhD, The George Washington University, 2019

Areas of expertise: Intersectionality; Transgender Health; LGBT Health; Participatory Action Research; Mental Health

Background:
Dr. Aguayo-Romero is a Research Scientist at the Whitman-Walker Institute. They completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Transgender Health Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, with affiliations at Harvard Medical School and the Fenway Institute.

They are a clinical psychologist by training, and their research focuses on understanding how intersectional experiences of discrimination faced by gender, sexual, ethno-racial, and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups impact health overall. Their research examines risk behaviors and health disparities—with an emphasis on HIV—using epidemiologic quantitative methods and principles of Participatory Action Research. They draw from systems approaches that apply modified social-ecological models, intersectionality, and syndemics frameworks.

They are currently establishing a research agenda which addresses health disparities among Latinx sexual and gender minorities in the Americas starting with the United States, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador.

They are the Principal Investigator (PI) at Whitman-Walker Institute of the following grants:
K01 grant funded by NIMH (K01MH134764) “Intersectional discrimination and linkage to HIV prevention and care in transgender women in Ecuador”
NIH CFAR supplement award “Developing a community-driven HIV research agenda to guide DC CFAR’s expansion in DC’s highest-burden neighborhoods: Needs assessment with four high priority populations”
HU CFAR developmental award “Optimizing biobehavioral HIV prevention for Latina transgender women in the eastern and southern US: An intersectional mixed-methods study”