Loretta Sweet Jemmott PHD, MSN, RN, FAAN

Loretta Sweet Jemmott, Ph.D., an expert in health promotion research, is one of the nation's foremost investigators in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention, with perhaps the most consistent track record of evidence-based, HIV risk-reduction interventions. She and her husband, John B. Jemmott, III, Ph.D., have attracted more than $150 million in NIH funding over the past two decades to design and test interventions to reduce the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among diverse populations in the U.S., Botswana, South Africa, Jamaica, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Publishing over 100 peer-reviewed articles, books, and chapters, her studies not only reported reducing risk-associated sexual behaviors, but also the incidence of STIs.

Jemmott is an outstanding translational and community-engagement researcher. She partnered with community-based organizations, from churches and clinics to barbershops, housing developments, and schools, transforming her research outcomes for use in real-world settings. To date, eight of her evidence-based interventions have been designated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health for national and international dissemination used in 48 states across the nation.

After retiring from a successful 20-year tenure at the University of Pennsylvania, she joined Drexel in 2015 as vice president for Health and Health Equity and professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions. Here she led the We’re Here Because We Care: Building Healthy Communities Together, using a qualitative, community-engaged approach to determine their health concerns and partnered with them to create health promotion initiatives. This led to the creation of Drexel’s Community Wellness HUB. Jemmott also works with faculty to build their program of research, leads the Implementation Science Research Working Group, the Fall Institute on Implementation Science Research, and teaches community engagement, intervention development, and implementation science courses.