Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson

Larissa Jennings Mayo-Wilson, PhD MHS, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is a sexual and reproductive health behavioral scientist with methodological skills in epidemiology, biostatistics, and qualitative science.

Dr. Jennings Mayo-Wilson’s research focuses on how to improve sexual and reproductive health (SRH), including HIV, in adolescents and young adults with low economic status and unmet SRH needs. She does this through three main areas of research. One, using quantitative randomized behavioral clinical trials, she designs and evaluates economic and environmental interventions to improve SRH outcomes, including HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI). Her work investigates how to relieve poverty in urban and rural areas, such that people can achieve their health-related goals. Second, her research studies how economic and environmental factors – such as economic violence, paid leave policies, or built and virtual health care settings – affect SRH/HIV care-seeking and related outcomes. She is also interested in how undergoing SRH care therapies impacts economic outcomes for women and children. Third, her research examines how self-care approaches enhance or minimize access to SRH services in communities with high poverty rates and low access to care.