Tyriesa L. Howard is an interdisciplinary public health social work scholar and certified full spectrum doula whose research broadly focuses on examining and understanding social and cultural determinants of sexual, reproductive, and maternal health outcomes for Black people living in the United States. She is particularly interested in moderating improved maternal and infant health outcomes through father engagement and centering fatherhood experiences surrounding birth work, perinatal loss, and the care of critically ill newborns. She is the director of the Fathers First Initiative in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, which is a program co-created with Dr. Jesse A. Davis (St. Louis Integrated Health Network) to provide social support to NICU fathers and improve mental health outcomes for NICU families. Her prior research has examined the sexual health and decision making of African American adolescents with HIV-positive mothers. She has also engaged in socio-behavioral interventions utilizing interactive video game and life simulation technology to encourage HIV treatment adherence and routinized HIV testing among adolescents living with and affected by HIV. At WashU, she is a faculty affiliate with the Institute for Public Health and the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies as well as a faculty scholar with the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity (CRE2). In the Brown School, she is the lead instructor for the social work program’s Human Behavior course and teaches Health Behavior and Health Promotion in the public health program. She also created a course, Diverse Issues in Maternal Health and Reproduction, which is cross-listed across both disciplines. Prior to joining the Brown School, she completed post-doctoral training in the Center for Prevention Science at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Recent Media Coverage Changemakers in Family Planning: Tyriesa HowardAugust 15, 2024 Tyriesa L. Howard Assistant Professor PhD, Howard University Office Phone: 314-935-6934 Email: thhowell@wustl.edu Areas of Focus: Maternal and child health Reproductive justice Father engagement Sexual health Behavioral health, mHealth In The News Howard awarded Changemakers in Family Planning grant October 24, 2024 Brown School Presenters at Hybrid 2021 CSWE November 2, 2021 Featured Publications Exploring the role of social media content on sexual health behaviors and decision making among young Black females. Journal of Adolescent Research. doi: 10.1177/07435584241268524Dorsey, M., Adams, V., Howard, T., Rutledge, J., King, D., Craddock, J., & Jaffrey, A. (2024) Experiences of adolescents and youth with HIV testing and linkage to care through the red carpet program in Kenya. PLOS One. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0296786* Howard, T., *Kose, J., Lenz, C., Masaba, R., Akuno, J., Woelk, G., & Rakhmanina, N. (2024) *Joint first authors Cannabis use, cannabis use disorder and mental health disorders among women pregnant and postpartum women in the US: A nationally representative study. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 248. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.109940Brown Q., Shmulewitz, D., Sarvet, A., Young-Wolff, K., Howard, T.H., Hasin, D. (2023).