Sara LeGrand

Associate Research Professor of Global Health

Dr. Sara LeGrand is an Associate Research Professor of Global Health at the Duke Global Health Institute and the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research with a doctoral degree in health services research. She is also co-director of the Duke Sexual and Gender Minority Health Program.

Dr. LeGrand has conducted health disparities research for over a decade. She has extensive experience conducting social and behavioral research with findings published in peer-reviewed journals. She currently serves as principal investigator or investigator for numerous federal grants that fund research on her two primary areas of interest:

Identifying and addressing disparities in the health and wellbeing of sexual and gender diverse populations. This research focuses on understanding determinants of health that negatively and positively contribute to mental, physical, and social health outcomes; health behaviors; and access to health care across the life course in different locations around the world. The goal of this work is to identify culturally relevant strategies at the individual, interpersonal, community, and structural/policy levels that improve the health and wellbeing of sexual and gender minorities and ultimately reduce global disparities.

Designing and testing interventions to address disparities in HIV prevention and care among minoritized individuals, particularly those with intersecting marginalized identities. A key area of focus is the development of novel, theory-based digital health interventions using a person-centered design approach for sexual and gender diverse adolescents and young adults, many of whom are further minoritized by their race and/or ethnicity.

Publications