The Midwest D-CFAR community is full of brilliant and inspiring people, and we want to introduce them to the world! For our April 2025 spotlight, we are featuring Julia López, PhD, LCSW, early stage investigator and Midwest D-CFAR member. Many thanks to Dr. López for taking the time to speak with us!

Could you briefly describe your career journey and research interests?

Dr. López: My journey into medicine and public health has consistently revolved around one core question: “How does mental health shape and get shaped by everything else going on in a person’s life?”

After graduate school, I split my time between clinic and community programs in St. Louis, providing mental healthcare to patients while gathering data on the very barriers they faced, which included language, immigration status, HIV stigma, and trauma. Today, my research focuses on the intersection of mental health, HIV medicine, and implementation science. My projects have included providing Spanish-language vaccination support during the peak of COVID-19 and mapping how mental health affects people living with HIV. Additionally, I participate in local health boards, review grants for SAMHSA, and provide training in various areas of immigrant health, gender affirming care, and trauma-informed care, always returning to that original question about the intersections of mental health.

What projects do you currently have ongoing?

I’m developing two projects at the intersection of mental health, HIV, and health equity. The first involves co-producing and evaluating a Spanish-language podcast that combines storytelling with evidence-based guidance on PrEP, testing, and sexual health needs. Another project I am looking to initiate is a year-long pilot study with 50 BIPOC cisgender women living with HIV to track pain severity, CD4 counts, viral load, and ART adherence every three months. This will allow us to model how chronic pain affects quality-of-life changes and identify actionable psychosocial factors. Each project offers a unique perspective on reducing HIV-related health disparities while keeping mental health front and center

You are a member of the Midwest D-CFAR, can you talk briefly about your experience with our Center?

The Midwest D-CFAR has served as a tremendous springboard for my HIV work. I have participated in various programs that D-CFAR offers, including HIV proposal bootcamp and the Scientific Working Group. I also had the opportunity to present at HIV Works in Progress and was selected for an Investigator Pilot Award. The grant writing Retreat for early-stage investigators proved invaluable when I drafted my aims for the Adelante Research Capacity Program regarding the Spanish-language podcast project, in collaboration with Casa de Salud and DiarioDigitalSTL.com.

The Investigator Pilot Award is funding a collaborative project with WashU OB/GYNs Amanda Zofkie, MD and Sydney Thayer, MD. This study aims to improve HIV chest/breastfeeding guidelines in clinical settings. We will engage with healthcare providers and birthing persons living with HIV (BPLWH) to understand their experiences and challenges. Using an implementation science framework, our findings will lead to a practical guide, helping providers and BPLWH make informed decisions about chest/breastfeeding and enhancing overall health.

Focused training and networking opportunities have given me the data and the partners I need to advance mental-health-focused, equity-driven HIV research.

We know you recently were accepted into the Weill Cornell Women's Infectious Diseases Global Scholars (WINGS) Program – congratulations again! What does that opportunity mean to you?

*Julia López with her spouse, Veronica Nold. PHOTO courtesy Julia López.*

I pursued the WINGS fellowship because it felt like the perfect opportunity to continue to develop the leadership skills and cross-disciplinary network I am interested in to scale up my mental health–focused HIV research. The program’s structured mentoring, protected writing retreats, and peer-to-peer feedback circles will allow me to refine my first R-series grant while learning best practices in team science and community-engaged methodology. Equally important, WINGS connects me with a cohort of women investigators from diverse disciplines, allowing me to exchange ideas on topics ranging from implementation science to metabolomics, and bring fresh perspectives to my projects with Latine communities. Ultimately, I hope the fellowship sharpens my strategic planning skills, broadens my collaborative toolbox, and accelerates the translation of equity-driven mental health interventions into effective, real-world HIV care.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

When I am not writing grants and seeing patients, you will usually find me roaming St. Louis with a camera in hand, capturing abstract snapshots of light, texture, and movement. Excitingly, I have had various works accepted in galleries in the St. Louis region and have been so very honored to be surrounded by incredible artists and creators. Photography allows me to hit pause, recharge my mental bandwidth, and return to work with fresh eyes for storytelling, whether I am crafting a grant narrative or designing an intervention. In a field where numbers can dominate, photography reminds me that lived experience has texture, and that translating science into practice is, at its heart, an act of visual and narrative art.

Edited by April Houston.

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