Our Faculty

Patrick Wilson, PhD, focuses on research related to HIV risk and prevention, ethnicity, and sexuality among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. Dr. Wilson's work falls into three broad topic areas including the intersecting roles that psychological factors (i.e., self-concept, identity, self-efficacy) and socio-contextual factors (i.e., social networks, discrimination and stigma, religion, trauma) play in explaining HIV risk and protective behaviors among ethnic minority MSM; the situational factors that may promote or prevent sexual risk-taking, substance use, and poor mental health among MSM; and the development, implementation, evaluation, and translation of primary and secondary HIV prevention interventions targeting youth and MSM. Cutting across these topical areas is his use of innovative and rigorous quantitative and qualitative methodologies to answer research questions of interest. Dr. Wilson's research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

PhD, New York University, 2004

MA, New York University, 2002

BS, Howard University, 1999

Mailman School Affiliations:

• Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Health 

• Frank A. Calderone Junior Faculty Research Prize, Mailman School of Public Health, 2006
• COR “Star” Award, NIMH Career Opportunities in Research (COR) Annual Meeting, 2006
• Excellence in Abstract Submission among New Investigators, HIV/AIDS Section, Annual Meeting of the APHA, 2005
• Jeffrey S. Tanaka Memorial Dissertation Award in Psychology, Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs, American Psychological Association, 2005

Substance use and other factors associated with sexual risk taking among HIV-positive MSM: understanding the structure of high-risk sexual situations
This pilot study aims to better understand the contexts of sexual risk-taking for HIV-positive MSM by examining the role of substance use and other situational factors, as well as patterns in mental and physical health, in explaining risk behaviors. The findings from the proposed research will inform secondary prevention and treatment interventions targeted toward HIV-positive MSM.

Religion, sexuality, and responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic among African-American and Afro-Caribbean men who have sex with men in NYC
This study examines the role of men who have sex with men in shaping responses to HIV in different religious institutions in NYC. The study explores the different types of responses of Catholic and Baptist religious institutions have had to the HIV epidemic in NYC, and examine barriers and facilitators to effective prevention and intervention efforts targeting MSM.

Sexual risk-taking among young Black men who have sex with men: exploring the social and situational contexts of HIV risk, prevention, and treatment
This 4-year study utilizes quantitative and qualitative data to explore features of the social and situational contexts in which young (18-30 yrs old) Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) meet other men and engage in sexual behaviors. The study focuses on understanding the distal and proximal contextual factors associated with risk behavior. The study also explores resiliency and other personal and social factors associated with HIV protective behaviors among young BMSM, as well as describes the barriers and facilitators to effective HIV prevention and treatment in this population.