Loretta Sweet Jemmott, PhD, FAAN, RN
van Ameringen Professor in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, and Director of the Center for Health Disparities Research
Contact Information
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Room 239 Fagin Hall
418 Curie Blvd.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4217
UNITED STATES
tel: (215) 898-8287
email: jemmott@nursing.upenn.edu
Dr. Jemmott is one of the nation's foremost researchers in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention among African American adolescents, having been involved with $74 million in federal funding devoted to this issue during the course of her career. Several of her curricula have been designated for national use by the Centers for Disease Control. Her reputation has achieved international proportions, having recently been invited to South Africa to help impact HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Teaching
Dr. Jemmott has taught undergraduate and graduate courses particularly in the area of AIDS NURS 360 "AIDS Case Study" and human sexuality NURS 503 "Contemporary Issues in Human Sexuality." In Spring, 2001 Dr. Jemmott, along with a masters prepared nurse practitioner, designed and taught NUR 098 "Sexual Health Promotion and Risk Reduction in West Philadelphia: A Seminar on Urban Campus/Community Norms," funded by the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Community Partnership. Dr. Jemmott is very committed to the area of health promotion and disease prevention. One of her goals is to prepare nurses and colleagues from various disciplines to become excellent research scientists in this area. Therefore, Dr. Jemmott intends to launch a new course on health promotion and disease prevention with a focus on minority health and health disparities with her colleague, Dr. Susan Gennaro. Deeply committed to mentoring minority faculty and students Dr. Jemmott launched the Hampton-Penn Project, a mentoring and research training collaboration with Hampton University School of Nursing (a historically black university).
Research
For the past 10 years, Dr. Jemmott has been involved in extensive outcome-based, theory driven, and culturally competent National Institutes of Health-funded research designing and evaluating interventions to reduce HIV risk-associated sexual behaviors. Dr. Jemmott and her colleagues have conducted a series of randomized controlled behavioral intervention trials aimed at increasing safer sex behaviors among inner-city minority youth, women, and family members. These trials have demonstrated remarkable success reducing HIV risk associated behaviors among adolescents and women. The success of her theory-based research expands beyond HIV prevention broadening the research paradigm for health outcomes research including strategies to reduce other behavior-linked health problems, e.g. cancer (smoking), heart disease (nutrition and exercise). To date, three of her evidenced-based interventions have been translated into programs used both nationally and internationally by community-based organizations and clinics in high-risk urban areas. Dr. Jemmott's work is acknowledged by her colleagues as the vanguard in health promotion and disease prevention, particularly in the field of behavioral intervention research. Currently, Dr. Jemmott is Principal Investigator on two new NIMH-funded 5-year randomized controlled studies entitled, " The Church-Based Parent-Child HIV Prevention Project" and "Reducing HIV Sexual Risk Among Black Substance Abusing Women". She is also a Co-Investigator on seven other randomized controlled trials, including a NIMH funded HIV risk reduction study for South African youth.
• Currently Funded Grants
• Center for Health Disparities Research
Clinical Practice
Dr. Jemmott considers community service and research in community settings as her area of practice. An important component of her work is reaching out and building partnerships to improve the quality of life of various racial/ethnic groups and communities. For the past five years, she has been actively involved with various community-based organizations regarding issues in minority health, especially in the area of AIDS, to design, implement and evaluate HIV prevention programs. Such agencies include the Philadelphia Urban League, the Philadelphia Housing Authority, and Black churches across the city. She has also worked with the City of Philadelphia's Health Department HIV Commission Community Prevention Planning Group to train community leaders to implement theory based, evidenced-based, culturally sensitive HIV prevention projects in communities of color. Noted for her expertise building community-university partnerships, she is invited to travel across the country to train other scientists and leaders in various communities on this topic.
Honors/Credentials
Dr. Jemmott has established and directs the School of Nursing's Center for Urban Health Research and is Co-Chair of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for AIDS Research's Behavior and Social Science Research Core. She has received numerous prestigious awards for significant contributions to the profession, to the field of HIV prevention research and to the community. Two such honors, the U.S. Congressional Merit Award and membership in the Institute of Medicine, are honors received by very few nurses. Some of the awards she received in 2001-2002 were the "Women Making A Difference Award" from Philadelphia City Council, the "Community Health Promotion Service Award," presented by The Health Ministry Program of the Eli Lilly and Keystone Mercy Health Plan, the "Gloria Twine Chisum Faculty Leadership Award," for Exemplary Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, the "2001 Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Award, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), and the "HIV Prevention Curriculum Award" by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Division of Adolescent & School Health (DASH). They selected three of her HIV Prevention Curricula as model curricula to be disseminated nationally in their dissemination project: "Research to Classroom - Programs That Work."
Dr. Jemmott received a Bachelors degree in nursing from Hampton University School of Nursing in 1978, where she received the Outstanding Alumnae Award in 1998. She received her Master's degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, specializing in Psychiatric Mental Health in 1982. She received a Ph.D., in Education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education in 1987. She holds a secondary appointment in the Graduate School of Education.
| Publications (select year) 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 and Prior | In Press | More Publications |
For the past 15 years I have observed how the HIV/AIDS epidemic has disproportionately impacted the African American community, becoming convinced the incidence could be reduced if people changed their sexual behaviors. Our research has demonstrated remarkable success reducing HIV risk associated sexual behaviors among African American adolescents and adults, specifically reducing the clinical incidence of STDs among African American women. Continued research will reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. 