Laura Nyblade, PhD, is a senior research health policy analyst. She is an expert on stigma and discrimination in the context of public health. As a senior technical advisor for RTI’s Global Health Division, she leads several initiatives aimed at measuring and reducing stigma, especially surrounding HIV and AIDS.
Dr. Nyblade’s projects have reached patients, health care professionals, and policymakers around the world. She has led a global initiative to develop, test, and standardize a tool for measuring stigma and discrimination among health facility staff. She has supported national AIDS programs in the Caribbean and conducted research on preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission. In South and South-East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, she has collaborated with governments to promote evidence-based stigma-reduction programs, engage different audiences, and support improved policies.
Before joining RTI in 2011, Dr. Nyblade served as Director of Stigma, Discrimination, and Gender at the International Center for Research on Women. She has an academic background in demography, and has provided technical guidance for the U.K. Department for International Development, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the World Bank.
