His passion for disentangling psychosocial factors related to substance use and HIV stems from his childhood experiences and as an immigrant in the United States β experiences through which he recognized the importance of social and environmental context in determining human health and the phenomenology of substance misuse and risky behaviors as universal problems.
These realizations compelled him to understand common factors that underlie these public health problems and to devise interventions to address them. He then earned his PhD in health behavior from the University of Florida UF , where he focused on experimental, quantitative, and qualitative methods to identify psychosocial correlates of substance misuse and HIV risk. Having lacked support and connections while navigating academia as an immigrant and first-generation student, Dr.
Gebru works to increase support and connections for other students across the educational pathway, including through mentoring high school students, undergraduates e. His various roles as an active member in several diversity committees are among his efforts to enhance diversity in biomedical sciences.
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