Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda

Dr. Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda is a Professor at Duke University School of Nursing with interdisciplinary training in nursing, public health, and psychology. Her research addresses the intersection of violence, substance use, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and mental health through developing, testing, and scaling multi-level interventions to address common social and structural drivers of these conditions. She uses a syndemic orientation, mixed methods, and community engaged strategies to influence practice and policy changes to promote health equity and social justice for Latinos, other racial and ethnic minoritized groups, and communities affected by stress, adversity, and trauma. She is currently the principal investigator of an NIH funded study conducting a community randomized trial of a community health worker intervention addressing stress, resilience, and syndemic outcomes among Latino immigrant families.

Dr. Gonzalez-Guarda has had a longstanding commitment to diversifying the nursing workforce and improving the capacity of healthcare providers and scientists to address health equity. She was a member of the National Academies of Medicine committee that produced the landmark Future of Nursing Report (2010) and has led various local and national initiatives to promote health equity research careers for populations systemically excluded from health professions. She is currently co-leading a NINR funded T32 entitled “Nurse LEADS: Training in Nurse-LEd models of care ADdressing Systems of Care and Community Health," which includes a strong partnership with institutions that do not have access to training in nursing science. She also leads various local and national initiatives addressing violence, mental health, and health equity including serving on the Board of Directors for El Futuro (the Future), a local community-based mental health organization serving Latino and immigrant communities, and co-leading the Community Health Improvement Core for the National Institutes of Health Collaboratory of Pragmatic Clinical Trials. Dr. Gonzalez-Guarda is a fellow of the Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration Minority Fellowship Program, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars program, and the American Academy of Nursing.