Leslie D. Williams
Assistant Professor
Community Health Sciences
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Contact
Building & Room:
677 SPHPI
Address:
1603 W. Taylor St.
Office Phone:
Email:
CV Download:
Office Hours
| Sunday | ||
|---|---|---|
| Monday | ||
| Tuesday | 08:00am – 09:00am | |
| Wednesday | ||
| Thursday | ||
| Friday | ||
| Saturday |
About
Most of Dr. Leslie D. Williams' current and planned research focuses on supra-individual (i.e., setting-level and social network-level) predictors of and interventions to prevent HIV-related and substance use-related harms, and on describing and addressing disparities and inequities in HIV and substance use care access and outcomes among populations with inequitable access to health services and populations burdened by intersectional stigma (i.e., populations affected by at least two of the following types of stigma: substance use-related, HIV-related, race/ethnicity-based, justice system involvement-based, mental health-related, and gender- and/or sexuality-based). Her work has a particular focus on understanding stigma as a setting-level phenomenon, including its relationship to HIV and substance use-related outcomes, its relationship to health service and/or intervention uptake and access, and the development and evaluation of interventions to reduce and address it. In particular, Dr. Williams has a strong focus on research projects that aim a) to improve understanding of setting-level predictors (including setting-level or structural stigma) of HIV and substance use-related outcomes; and projects that aim b) to evaluate interventions that use innovative social network-based strategies to improve access to HIV-related and substance use-related health services, to reduce HIV- and substance use-related stigma and improve health-related social support, and/or to reduce substance use-related harms.
Selected Grants
NIMH, Site-randomized Trial of a Novel Social Network Recruitment Intervention to Locate More Undiagnosed Positive Cases of HIV, Increase HIV Testing among Men, and Reduce HIV-related Stigma in South Africa, Principal Investigator
CDC, Reducing Overdose and Substance Use-related Stigma on Chicago’s West Side by Training Non-substance-using Friends and Family Members of People who Use Opioids to Be Harm Reduction Champions, Principal Investigator
Selected Publications
Williams, L.D., van Heerden, A., Friedman, S.R., Chibi, B., Memela, P., Avila Rodriguez, W., & Joseph, P. (2024). Comparison of a novel expanded social network recruitment intervention with risk network recruitment to HIV testing: locating undiagnosed cases in South Africa. AIDS, 1097. DOI: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000003976.
Williams, L.D., van Heerden, A., Friedman, S.R., Chibi, B., Avila Rodriguez, W., & Memela, P. (2024). Changes in stigma and social support among participants in a randomized trial of a novel expanded social network-based HIV testing intervention in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. AIDS and Behavior, 28, 2619-2629.
Williams, L.D., McKetta, S.C., Stall, R., Beane, S., Ibragimov, U., Tempalski, B., Hall, H.I., Satcher Johnson, A., Wang, G., & Friedman, S.R. (2024). Structural discrimination against and structural support for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as a predictor of late HIV diagnoses among Black men who have sex with men. Journal of Urban Health, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-023-00818-8.
Williams, L.D., Stall, R., Tempalski, B., Jefferson, K., Smith, J.C., Ibragimov, U., Hall, H.I., Satcher, A., Wang, G., Purcell, D.W., Cooper, H.L.F., & Friedman, S.R. (2021). Trajectories of and disparities in HIV prevalence among Black, white, and Hispanic/Latino men who have sex with men in 89 large U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, 1992-2013. Annals of Epidemiology, 54, 52-63.
Williams, L. D., Mackesy-Amiti, M. E., Latkin, C., & Boodram, B. (2021). Drug use-related stigma, safer injection norms, and hepatitis C infection among a network-based sample of young people who inject drugs. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 221, 108626.
Williams, L.D., Tempalski, B., Ibragimov, U., Stall, R., Satcher, A., Wang, G., Cooper, H.L.F., & Friedman, S.R. (2020). Trends over time in HIV prevalence among people who inject drugs in 89 large U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, 1992-2013. Annals of Epidemiology, 45, 12-23.
Williams, L. D., Aber, J. L., & SIZE Research Group. (2020). Using a multi-level framework to test empirical relationships among HIV/AIDS-related stigma, health service barriers, and HIV outcomes in South Africa. AIDS and Behavior, 24(1), 81-94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-019-02439-2.
Williams, L.D., Korobchuk, A., Smyrnov, P., Sazonova, Y., Nikolopoulos, G., Skaathun, B., Morgan, E., Schneider, J., Vasylyeva, T.I., Duong, Y.T., Chernyavska, S., Goncharov, V., Kotlik, L., & Friedman, S.R. (2019). Social network approaches to locating people recently infected with HIV in Odessa, Ukraine. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 22 (6), e25330. https://doi.org/10.1002/jia2.25330.
Williams, L. D. & Aber, J. L., & SIZE Research Group. (2019). The multi-level relationships of HIV-related stigma to child and caregiver mental health among HIV-affected households in South Africa. American Journal of Community Psychology, 63(1-2), 3-16.
Williams, L.D., Kostaki, E.G., Pavlitina, E., Paraskevis, D., Hatzakis, A., Schneider, J., … Nikolopoulos, G. & Friedman, S.R. (2018). Pockets of HIV non-infection within highly-infected risk networks in Athens, Greece. Frontiers in Microbiology, 9, 1825.
Education
Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Intervention with a concentration in Quantitative Methodology (2014)
New York University, New York, NY
B.A. in Psychology with minor in Women's Studies (2007)
B.A. in African American and African Studies with minor in Dance (2007)
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Research Currently in Progress
Reducing Overdose and Substance Use-related Stigma on Chicago’s West Side by Training Non-substance-using Friends and Family Members of People who Use Opioids to Be Harm Reduction Champions
University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, IL
PI: Leslie D. Williams, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, September 2024-September 2029, CDC
This project will work with faith-based organizations and other community partners to implement and evaluate a peer harm reduction champion intervention to prevent opioid overdose and reduce substance use-related stigma on the West side of Chicago, particularly among older adults. The intervention will train people who do not use drugs but who know someone who uses opioids on how to access and use available harm reduction tools and services, and will distribute naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips directly to them. These harm reduction champions will then work together with their peer who uses opioids and a licensed mental health counselor to develop a plan to help the peer who uses opioids access harm reduction tools and services more regularly/consistently. Quasi-experimental methods will be used to evaluate efficacy relative to a non-equivalent comparison group of people who use opioids and have recently accessed harm reduction services on their own.
Site-randomized Trial of a Novel Social Network Recruitment Intervention to Locate More Undiagnosed Positive Cases of HIV, Increase HIV Testing among Men, and Reduce HIV-related Stigma in South Africa
University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, IL
PI: Leslie D. Williams, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, July 2024-April 2029, NIMH
This project will conduct a site-randomized trial among HIV testing clinics in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to test the efficacy of a social network-recruitment intervention that asks people newly diagnosed with HIV at an HIV testing clinic to recruit anyone they know who they think might be at risk of being HIV-positive-unaware to HIV testing. This project will aim to increase HIV testing rates among men and to increase HIV-related social support and reduce HIV-related stigma through facilitation and normalization of conversations about HIV testing among social networks during the peer recruitment process.
Intersectional Stigma Reduction for Tajik Migrants who Inject Drugs
University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, IL
PI: Mary Ellen Mackesy-Amiti, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator, August 2023 to present, NIDA
This study will 1) explore the characteristics of substance use-related and HIV-related stigma among Tajik labor migrants, and how these types of stigma intersect; and 2) develop an intervention to reduce stigma among Tajik migrant communities in order to improve HIV prevention and reduce HIV risk behavior.
Expanding Access to Methadone Treatment for Justice-Involved Individuals through Video Direct Observed Therapy
University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, IL
PI: Christine Neeb, M.D.
Co-Investigator, September 2022 to present, JCOIN J-RIG (NIDA)
This study will examine the feasibility and acceptability of video-directed methadone treatment as a mechanism to improve access to and retention in treatment among justice-involved individuals with opioid use disorder.