Dr. Loretta Sweet Jemmott is the van Ameringen Chair in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing and Director of the Center for Health Disparities Research at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing. Dr. Jemmott also holds secondary appointments in the University’s School of Medicine and Graduate School of Education. In 2004 Dr. Jemmott was named Assistant Provost for Minority & Gender Equity Issues for the University.

Dr. Jemmott has been involved in a number of research projects focusing on designing and testing theory-based, culturally sensitive, and developmentally appropriate strategies to reduce HIV risk-associated sexual behaviors among African Americans, the Latino-population and South African youth. She, along with her husband, Dr. John B. Jemmott, III, have been funded by the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR), The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, The National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute for Nursing Research, for a total of about 86 million research dollars. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention selected her HIV risk-reduction curriculum entitled, “Be Proud! Be Responsible! Strategies to Empower Youth to Reduce Their Risk for AIDS” as a model curriculum which is being disseminated nationally as part of CDC’s program entitled, “Research to Classrooms, Programs That Work!”

Dr. Jemmott has received many awards for her research and community efforts, including the Congressional Merit Recognition Award, The Red Ribbon Award for outstanding service in the field of HIV/AIDS, and the Governor of New Jersey’s Nurse Merit Award in Advanced Nurse Practice. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, a member of the CDC Division of HIV, STD, & TB Advisory Council, and a member of the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Jemmott has published extensively in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention and adolescent sexual behavior.