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Biography
Dr. Heidi Luft, PhD, RN is a tenure-track Assistant Professor with the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing and a Fulbright alumna of the Dominican Republic (DR) US Scholar Program (2022). Her teaching focus includes health ethics and policy, team science, peace and conflict, determinants of health, cultural humility in healthcare, global health, and study abroad in Latin America. Since 2014, she has been building a program of collaborative research to advance knowledge about effective strategies to maximize dissemination and implementation (D&I) of health promotion evidence-based interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). She is an implementation research pioneer in Latin America, leading some of the first studies in the region that have involved rigorous application of D&I methods and theories, to design implementation strategies for school based EBIs in DR. She has substantially expanded qualitative understanding of partner violence in the DR and is among the first to conduct empirical research to evaluate the prevalence and correlates of adverse childhood experiences, mental health, dating violence, and other timely health behaviors and experiences (e.g., sexting) among adolescents in the DR. Given the importance of structural change to reduce health inequities in LMICs, Dr. Luft collaborates closely with the Ministry of Education in the DR. Her work is grounded in a multi-sectorial and transdisciplinary approach, with extensive stakeholder engagement.