Postdoctoral Fellow
The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health
1340 Boylston Street, 8th Floor
Boston,
MA
USA
02215
kbiello@fenwayhealth.org
Biographical Sketch:
Research continues to show that social disparities in HIV/sexually transmitted disease risk are due to a complex
web of causes, taking place at multiple levels of the social hierarchy. My research interests are in identifying and
understanding the underlying risk factors for disparities in HIV/STIs and developing behavioral interventions to
reduce risk among racial and sexual minorities and those in resource limited settings, both domestically and
globally. As a result, my past training, current research, and future objectives have combined the disciplines of
epidemiology, social and behavioral health and global public health. As part of my doctoral research at Yale
University with a fellowship in interdisciplinary HIV/AIDS research through the Center for Interdisciplinary
Research on AIDS, I examined structural factors associated with racial disparities in sexual risk. Specifically, I
used a variety of data sources to examine if metropolitan area residential racial segregation can explain the large
racial disparities in sexual risk. Currently, as a postdoctoral fellow at The Fenway Institute and Harvard School of
Public Health, I have begun to examine how differences in sexual networks might impact disparities in sexual
risk, STDs and HIV.
Selected Publications
Biello KB, Sipsma H, Ickovics JR, Kershaw T. Economic dependence and unprotected sex: the role of sexual
assertiveness among young urban mothers. Journal of Urban Health. 2010;87(3):416]25.
Biello KB, Pettigrew M, Niccolai L. Chlamydia trachomatis infection in young women: comparing the role of
individual] and neighborhood]level measures of socioeconomic status. Sexually Transmitted Infections.
2011;87(7):560]2.
Biello KB, Kershaw T, Nelson R, Hogben M, Ickovics J, Niccolai L. Residential racial segregation and rates of
gonorrhea in the United States, 2003]2007. American Journal of Public Health. 2012;102(7):1370]7.
Biello KB, Niccolai L, Kershaw TS, Lin H, Ickovics J. Residential racial segregation and racial differences in sexual
behaviours: an 11]year longitudinal study of sexual risk of adolescents transitioning to adulthood. Journal of
Epidemiology and Community Health. 2013 Jan;67(1):28]34.
Biello KB, Ickovics J, Niccolai L, Lin H, Kershaw TS. Racial differences in age of first sexual intercourse: residential
racial segregation and the black]white disparity among U.S. adolescents. Public Health Rep. 2013 Mar;128 Suppl
1:23]32.
Biello KB. Residential racial segregation and disparities in STD risk in the United States: the growing evidence.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 2013;40(6):444]6.