Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research

John K. Williams

John K. Williams
John K. Williams Associate Director UCLA Sexual Health Program UCLA-SemelInstitute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior USA Tel: 310 825-8810 Fax: 310 206-9137
United States

Biography

John K. Williams, M.D., joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Global HIV/AIDS, Center for Global Health in March of 2014. In his current role, he provides support to PEPFAR countries working with key populations. Prior to this, he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA. He completed his M.D. degree at the State University of NY at Syracuse, his Psychiatry residency at the University of Hawaii and an NIMH sponsored two-year HIV/AIDS research postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA. He has expertise in HIV risk reduction in diverse populations especially among minority men who have sex with men (MSM), the use of the Internet for research purposes, and mental health disparities and cross-cultural Psychiatry (i.e., cultural predictors of depression and anxiety among ethnic minority youths). Dr. Williams was previously funded as a Minority AIDS Research Initiative (MARI) Investigator by the CDC. He was also funded to develop an HIV prevention intervention for non-gay identifying African American men who have sex with men and women (MSMW) and funded through NIMH, to develop an HIV risk reduction intervention for HIV-positive African American MSMW who have a history of childhood sexual abuse and to examine biomarkers of stress. Both interventions examine the stigma of being labeled “gay” and attempts to alter sexual risk behaviors among these men as they struggle with their sexual identity. Dr. Williams has acted as the Training Director for a Fogarty International Trauma Training Grant with the University of Limpopo in South Africa entitled, The UCLA-South African Research in Trauma Training Program (Phodiso) and was the Co-Director of Training & Education for the Prevention & Clinical Research Core of the UCLA AIDS Institute. He was also the Training Director and Community Liaison for the NIH funded Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities.

Research Interest

HIV behavioral interventions, Mental health & HIV, Health disparities & HIV, Men who have sex with men (MSM), gay, bisexual men