Donny Gerke, PhD, MSW

Dr. Gerke is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His scholarship centers community-academic partnerships to advance health equity and health promotion for marginalized communities, with a focus on LGBTQ+ people and those living with and/or at risk for HIV. He is also active in the field of implementation science and was a co-author on a recent 10-year scoping review of implementation outcomes using the Proctor framework. Dr. Gerke’s research is informed by nearly 10 years of social work practice with LGBTQ+ populations, including positions in which he provided mental health and sexual risk counseling, supervised a peer-driven HIV and substance use prevention program for youth, and managed a portfolio of HIV prevention programs for one of the largest AIDS services organizations in the country. Recent research projects include a mixed-methods study of health literacy and health care access for transgender and nonbinary Coloradans using the capabilities framework, and a qualitative examination of the factors associated with PrEP uptake and sustainment among young men who have sex with men and young transgender and nonbinary individuals in Colorado, using group model building. Dr. Gerke is eager to use his HIGH-IRI experience to better integrate implementation science into his HIV research.