Don Operario

Dr. Don Operario, Ph.D. is the Grace Crum Rollins Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Behavioral, Social, & Health Education Sciences at Emory University.

Previously, he was Professor of Public Health and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Public Health at Brown University. He was previously on the faculty of the University of Oxford (Department of Social Policy and Social Work) and before that was at the University of California San Francisco (Center for AIDS Prevention Studies – Department of Medicine). 

Dr. Operario is a behavioral-social scientist committed to public health equity. His research program addresses two interrelated areas. The first research area concerns the lived experiences associated with social inequality. The second general area involves developing and evaluating theory-based, multi-level interventions to address the synergistic epidemics (“syndemics”) of HIV, mental health, and structural violence in historically marginalized communities.

He has published over 300 research papers/chapters and served as Principal Investigator or co-Investigator on over 35 scientific research grants. He conducts research in collaboration with community and academic partners in the United States, Kenya, China, Philippines, South Korea, and South Africa. 

He has received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Brown University School of Public Health, the University of Oxford Excellence in Teaching Award, the American Psychological Association Distinguished Leadership Award on Psychology and AIDS, and recently served as chair of the American Psychological Association Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs.

Dr. Operario received his master’s and Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles.