Kathryn Muessig PhD

Dr. Kathryn Muessig, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Health Behavior department at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her doctoral training from Johns Hopkins University as a public health interventionist and social scientist and her current research centers on the prevention and care of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in the U.S., China, and sub-Saharan Africa. At UNC, Dr. Muessig teaches graduate-level seminars in Globalization & Health and Research Grant Proposal Development. Her research focuses on key populations including men who have sex with men, commercial sex workers, and populations experiencing health disparities. She is currently engaged in the development and testing of a number of NIH-funded eHealth and mHealth interventions for men who have sex with men in both the U.S. and China including healthMpowerment.org, Epic Allies app to improve antiretroviral medication adherence, the Tough Talks virtual reality application to support HIV status disclosure decisions, and the Ally Quest app to improve linkage and engagement in care among newly diagnosed HIV+ youth. She is particularly interested in the roles of reducing stigma and improving social support as means to improve HIV prevention and care outcomes. Dr. Muessig’s methodological focus is on the use of qualitative and mixed-methods research to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of health behavior interventions.