Irene Doherty, PhD, MPH

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Div of Infectious Diseases, Dept of Medicine, School of Medicine
130 Mason Farm Rd
CB 7030
Chapel Hill, NC
USA 27599-7030
doherty@med.unc.edu

Biographical Sketch:
Feb 2007-present Assistant Professor Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine School of Medicine University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 2004-2007 Postdoctoral Fellow Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine School of Medicine University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 1999-2004 Co-Investigator/Project Director Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences University of California San Francisco San Francisco, CA 1998 – 2000 Graduate Student Researcher Office of AIDS California Department of Public Health Berkeley, CA 1996 – 1998 Project Coordinator US Naval Medical Center, San Diego CA & School of Public Health University of California Berkeley Berkeley, CA 1992-1996 Senior Research Associate Statistical and Clinical Coordinating Center New England Research Institutes Watertown, MA 1989 – 1991 Research Associate Epidemiology Resources Inc. (now Ingenix) Newton, MA 1988 – 1989 Legislative Aide Boston City Council Boston, MA 20 years of epidemiologic research experience in coordinating centers and direct field work, and experience working with complex datasets. Current work focuses broadly on social determinants of reproductive health among marginalized and underserved populations, and specifically the effects of social and sexual networks on transmission and acquisition of STIs. Published two invited reviews about sexual network research cited in more than 100 publications. Ongoing research includes: 1)investigating the synergistic effects of dual epidemics of syphilis and HIV in the sexual networks of young African-American men who have sex with men (as PI); 2) incarcerated and recently released inmates to determine how the genetic diversity of Staphylococcus aureus (SA) might serve as a biological marker of social connections among people colonized with SA in and members of overlapping social networks; 3) mathematical modeling of the effects of concurrency and HSV on HIV transmission; 4) how sexual networks form in geographical space and affect transmission of STIs; 5) sexual network features of African American women;