Melissa Watt
Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health
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Melissa Watt
Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health
Melissa Watt is an Associate Professor at the University of Utah, where she has a research appointment in Population Health Sciences and a teaching appointment in the Honors College. Her research focuses on understanding and addressing gender-specific health issues in sub-Saharan Africa, with specific attention to HIV, substance use, and mental health, and the application of mixed methods to understand health behavior and develop culturally salient interventions. She is currently collaborating with faculty at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania on a research program addressing HIV stigma. In the Honors College, she directs an integrated pathway “Health in Context” that includes summer coursework at Ensign College in Kpong, Ghana.
Before joining the faculty at the University of Utah, Dr. Watt was a DGHI faculty member for twelve years, where she worked with the Duke Center for AIDS Research and served as the Director of Graduate Studies in Global Health.
Dr. Watt received her PhD in Health Behavior from the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina and an MA in Gender and Development at the University of Sussex (UK).
Projects
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Postpartum HIV care engagement in the context of Option B+ in Tanzania
Tanzania
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CFAR Social and Behavioral Science Core
United States
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Exploring risk for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in South Africa
South Africa
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Identifying opportunities to promote engagement in HIV care following childbirth in South Africa
South Africa
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Improving the Health of South African Women with Traumatic Stress in HIV Care
South Africa
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Development of Mental Health Treatment for Obstetric Fistula Patients in Tanzania
Tanzania
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Alcohol-related HIV Risks Among South African Women
South Africa
Publications
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Mwamba RN, Sao SS, Knettel BA, Minja LM, Osaki H, Mmbaga BT, et al. The Disclosure Dilemma: Willingness to Disclose a Positive HIV Status Among Individuals Preparing for HIV Testing During Antenatal Care in Tanzania. AIDS and behavior. 2021 Mar;25(3):908–16.Oshosen M, Knettel BA, Knippler E, Relf M, Mmbaga BT, Watt MH. "She Just Told Me Not To Cry": A Qualitative Study of Experiences of HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC) Among Pregnant Women Living with HIV in Tanzania. AIDS and behavior. 2021 Jan;25(1):104–12.Yemeke TT, Sikkema KJ, Watt MH, Ciya N, Robertson C, Joska JA. Screening for Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health Distress Among Women in HIV Care in Cape Town, South Africa. Journal of interpersonal violence. 2020 Nov;35(21–22):4842–62.Manavalan P, Madut DB, Hertz JT, Thielman NM, Okeke NL, Mmbaga BT, et al. Hypertension burden and challenges across the hypertension treatment cascade among adults enrolled in HIV care in northern Tanzania. J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2020 Aug;22(8):1518–22.
See more publications at Scholars@Duke