People

Marya Gwadz
Marya Gwadz, PhD
CDUHR - Associate Director, Transdisciplinary Research Methods Core
NYU Silver School of Social Work - Professor and Associate Dean for Research
Education
PhD, Clinical Psychology, New York University
MA, Psychology, New York University
BA, Psychology, University of Rochester
Research Interests
Health inequity, Social/behavioral interventions, Culturally salient interventions, Interventions to improve outcomes along the HIV care continuum (Seek, Test, Treat, and Retain studies), Peer-driven interventions, The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST), Adaptive interventions, Adolescent and adult populations in high-risk contexts, HIV, Substance use, Poverty
BIO
Marya Gwadz is a licensed clinical psychologist and Associate Dean for Research and Professor at the New York University Silver School of Social Work. Dr. Gwadz is an Associate Director of the Transdisciplinary Research Methods Core of the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research, in which she has played a leadership role since 2005. The main focus of Dr. Gwadz’s research is the development and evaluation of potent, innovative, multi-level culturally salient interventions to address racial/ethnic and socio-economic disparities in HIV. Her work with populations in high-risk contexts spans over two decades and has focused on sub-groups such as runaway/homeless youth, young men who have sex with men (YMSM), heterosexuals at high risk for HIV, substance-using populations, low socioeconomic status populations, and persons of color living with HIV/AIDS.
Projects
Principal Investigator, Advancing Knowledge on Factors that Promote or Impede Engagement Along the HIV Care Continuum Over Time: A Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study of Black and Latinx Youth/Emerging Adults Living with HIV. Active
Principal Investigator, Community-Based Behavioral Intervention to Increase COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccination for African American/Black and Latino Persons: An Optimization Randomized Controlled Trial. Active
Principal Investigator, Adaption to High School among Affluent Youth: Stress and Effective Coping Strategies. Completed
Principal Investigator, Addressing Health Disparities in HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials (ACT Project). Completed
Principal Investigator, Advancing Research on Youth Settings by Exploring Program Quality and Outcomes for Runaway/Homeless Youth. Completed
Principal Investigator, Development of Intervention Components to Increase Engagement in Care among Youth with HIV. Completed
Principal Investigator, Integrating Behavioral Skills with a Mobile Biosensor for At-Risk Teen Mothers. Completed
Principal Investigator, Intervention to Increase Timely Initiation of HAART among Those who Delay/Decline. Completed
Principal Investigator, Interventions for HIV-Positive Mothers with Drinking Problems (The Family First Intervention). Completed
Principal Investigator, Peer-Driven Intervention to Enroll Minorities/Women in HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials (ACT2). Completed
Principal Investigator, Peer-Driven Intervention to Seek, Test & Treat Heterosexuals at High Risk for HIV. Completed
Principal Investigator, Recent Changes in HIV Testing Recommendations: Impact on Youth at Risk. Completed
Principal Investigator, Using MOST to Optimize an HIV Care Continuum Intervention for Vulnerable Populations. Completed
Principal Investigator, Using the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) to Optimize an Intervention to Increase COVID-19 Testing for Black and Latino/Hispanic Frontline Essential Workers. Completed
Principal Investigator, Wellness Wise: Unpacking and Understanding the Management of Co-Morbidities among Persons of Color Living with HIV. Completed
Publications

Recent

Serrano S, Wilton L, Sherpa D, Cleland CM, Zaldivar MF, Maria ZK, Rosmarin-DeStefano C, Munson MR, Padilla AS, Gwadz M (2024).
Engaging diverse African American/Black and Latine youth and emerging adults living with HIV into research: Description of recruitment strategies and lessons learned
AIDS and Behavior [Epub 2024 Oct 12]. doi: 10.1007/s10461-024-04524-7.

Feelemyer J, Braithwaite RS, Zhou Q, Cleland CM, Manandhar-Sasaki P, Wilton L, Ritchie A, Collins LM, Gwadz MV (2024).
Empirical development of a behavioral intervention for African American/Black and Latino persons with unsuppressed HIV viral load levels: An application of the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) using cost-effectiveness as an optimization objective
AIDS and Behavior, 28 (7), 2378-2390. doi: 10.1007/s10461-024-04335-w.

Strayhorn JC, Cleland CM, Vanness DJ, Wilton L, Gwadz M, Collins LM (2024).
Using decision analysis for intervention value efficiency to select optimized interventions in the multiphase optimization strategy
Health Psychology, 43 (2), 89-100. doi: 10.1037/hea0001318. PMCID: PMC10837328.

Cleland CM, Gwadz M, Collins LM, Wilton L, Leonard NR, Ritchie AS, Martinez BY, Silverman E, Sherpa D, Dorsen C (2023).
Effects of behavioral intervention components for African American/Black and Latino persons living with HIV with non-suppressed viral load levels: Results of an optimization trial
AIDS and Behavior, 27 (11), 3695-3712. doi: 10.1007/s10461-023-04086-0. PMCID: PMC10211286.

Velez-Grau C, Magan IM, Gwadz M (2023).
The burden of not belonging: A qualitative study of the applicability of the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide constructs of belongingness and burdensomeness to ethnocultural minoritized youth
Behavior Therapy, 54 (5), 777-793. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2023.02.004.


Notable

Gwadz M, Cleland CM, Applegate E, Belkin M, Gandhi M, Salomon N, Banfield A, Leonard N, Riedel M, Wolfe H, Pickens I, Bolger K, Bowens D, Perlman D, Mildvan D (2015).
Behavioral intervention improves treatment outcomes among HIV-infected individuals who have delayed, declined, or discontinued antiretroviral therapy: A randomized controlled trial of a novel intervention
AIDS and Behavior, 19 (10), 1801-1807. doi: 10.1007/s10461-015-1054-6. PMCID: PMC4567451.

Gwadz M, Cleland CM, Belkin M, Ritchie A, Leonard N, Riedel M, Banfield A, Colon P, Elharrar V, Kagan J, Mildvan D (2014).
ACT2 peer-driven intervention increases enrollment into HIV/AIDS medical studies among African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics: A cluster randomized controlled trial
AIDS and Behavior, 18 (12), 2409-2422. doi: 10.1007/s10461-014-0829-5. PMCID: PMC4451823.

Gwadz MV, Gostnell K, Smolenski C, Willis B, Nish D, Nolan TC, Tharaken M, Ritchie AS (2009).
The initiation of homeless youth into the street economy
Journal of Adolescence, 32 (2), 357-377. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2008.01.004.

Dr. Gwadz's MyBibliography Profile
Selected Press