Valerie Earnshaw

Associate Professor

My research focuses on understanding and addressing associations between stigma and health inequities across the lifespan. I aim to contribute to knowledge of the mechanisms whereby stigma undermines health outcomes and what moderates these relationships in protective ways. I also aim to contribute to interventions to improve the wellbeing of stigmatized children, youth, and families. Much of my current research focuses on stigma associated with substance use disorders, HIV, and mental illness.

I earned my PhD in Social Psychology in 2011 from the University of Connecticut, where I completed additional training in social processes of HIV/AIDS, health psychology, and quantitative research methods. I then pursued post-doctoral training in HIV/AIDS at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University as well as in child- and family-centered health outcomes research at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. I was supported by an early career development award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse between 2017 and 2021. I received the NIH Office of Disease Prevention Early-Stage Investigator Lecture (2019) the Committee on Psychology and AIDS of the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Emerging Leadership Award (2019), and American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest Early Career Award (2020).

Please see the Earnshaw Lab for more information about my work. I host the Sex, Drugs & Science podcast with Carly Hill and members of my lab (see this UDaily article for more information about our podcast).

Current and Recent Grants

• Voices for Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study to Better Understand the
  Attitudes and Well-Being of Emerging Adults (R01MH126196; MPI with
  Annie B. Fox)
• Implementing Stigma Reduction Tools via a Popular Teletraining
  Platform to Reduce Clinician Stigma and Disparities in HIV Testing,
  Prevention, and Linkage to Care in Malaysia (R34MH124390)
• Understanding and Addressing Disclosure to Members of Social
  Networks among People Recovering from Substance Use Disorders
  (K01DA042881)