Faculty Profile

Kristi E Gamarel, PhD, EdM
- Associate Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education
Kristi Gamarel's (she/her) program of research focuses on elucidating and addressing how intersectional oppression contributes to health inequities among LGBTQ+ communities. Her research is largely focused on the development of community-engaged interventions designed with, by, and for trans people of color. She is a founding member of the "Love Her Collective" which a community-academic partnership with the Trans Sistas of Color Project (TSoCP) with the mission of meeting the needs of trans women of color. The Love Her Collective's current intervention research focuses on addressing social determinants of HIV, including violence, gender affirmation, economic vulnerability, and health-harming legal needs. An additional area of her research focuses on dissemination and implementation science in the context of HIV prevention interventions, including peer-delivered and digital health interventions. She has also been actively involved with the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV Interventions (ATN) since 2014, including serving as Protocol Chair. She co-created and currently directs the ATN Communication-Dissemination Hub, which is focused on expediting the gap between research, practice, and policy. Her scholarship is informed by community-based participatory research principles and she prioritizes cultural humility in her research, teaching, and mentoring.
- PhD, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 2014
- EdM, Teacher's College Columbia University, 2009
- BA, Bard College, 2001
Research Interests:
LGBTQ+ health, transgender health, community-engaged interventions, HIV prevention,
mental health, substance use
Gamarel's research focuses on elucidating and addressing how intersectional oppression contributes to HIV, mental health, and substance use inequities among LGBTQ+ communities. She works closely with her mentees on the development of their independent programs of research focused on structural stigma, including studies that demonstrate the relationship between policies and health inequities among LGBTQ+ communities.
Research Projects:
Gamarel is a founding member of the "Love Her Collective" which is a community-academic
partnership with the Trans Sistas of Color Project (insert hyperlink: https://www.facebook.com/TSCOPD/). Through qualitative research, survey research, and intervention studies, the "Love
Her Collective" is engaged in a number of research projects designed to understand
and address the needs of trans women of color.
Gamarel's current community-engaged intervention projects take an HIV status-neutral approach. Her projects are designed to address gender affirmation, violence, economic vulnerability, and health-harming legal needs that underlie inequities across the HIV prevention and care continua among trans communities of color.
Gamarel's work has also focused on the role of intimacy in HIV prevention efforts. As an example, she collaborated on the first couples-based intervention for trans women and their partners which was endorsed by the CDC as one of the first "good" evidence-based HIV interventions for trans people (include hyperlink: https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/research/interventionresearch/compendium/rr/cdc-hiv-chip-good-rr.pdf).
Gamarel is also engaged in dissemination and implementation science with a specific focus on peer-delivered and digital health interventions in community health settings. She has been actively involved with the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV Interventions (ATN) since 2014, including serving as Protocol Chair. She also co-created and currently directs the ATN Communication-Dissemination Hub, which is focused on expediting the gap between research, practice, and policy (include hyperlink: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/atn).
Gamarel also collaborates on research designed to explore other pressing public health issues facing LGBTQ+ communities, such as firearm violence (include hyperlink: https://firearminjury.umich.edu/project/kristi-garmarel-project-project-name/).
Email: kgamarel@umich.edu
Office: 734-647-3178
Address: 3826 SPH I
1415 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
For media inquiries: sph.media@umich.edu
Areas of Expertise: Firearm Injury Prevention, Health Equity, Infectious Disease, LGBT Health, Mental Health, Racism, Substance Use