Dr. LaRon Nelson is Associate Dean for Global Health & Equity and the Independence Foundation Associate Professor at the Yale School of Nursing. He also is the OHTN HIV Research Chair in Implementation Science with Black Communities, which is based in the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto (Canada). He has been involved in HIV research for 16 years. Dr. Nelson’s research investigates the use of multi-level (biomedical + behavioral + health system + social/structural) interventions to optimize HIV prevention and treatment outcomes in African and African diaspora communities.

Dr. Nelson is a one of the co-chairs for HPTN 096, a community randomized controlled trial of an integrated multi-level intervention to reduce HIV incidence among Black MSM in the southern United States. He was also a protocol team member and the lead implementation scientist for HPTN 073. In Ghana, Dr. Nelson is leading an NIH-sponsored randomized controlled trial testing the effect of a multi-level intersectional stigma reduction intervention to improve HIV self-testing among MSM.

In Canada, he is currently developing a multi-level intervention strategy to increase PrEP uptake among Black MSM in Toronto.He is an elected fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and his research has been supported by the NIH, CDC, Ontario HIV Treatment Network, Grand Challenges Canada and the Canadian Institute of Health Research.