People

Dustin T. Duncan is the Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where he directs the Columbia Spatial Epidemiology Lab and co-directs the department’s Social and Spatial Epidemiology Unit. Dr. Duncan is a Social and Spatial Epidemiologist, studying how specific neighborhood characteristics influence population health and health disparities. His research has a strong domestic (U.S.) focus, but recent work is beginning to span across the globe (including studies in Paris, London, and Nairobi). Dr. Duncan’s work appears in leading public health, epidemiology, medical, geography, criminology, demography, and psychology journals. Working in collaborations with scholars across the world, Dr. Duncan has over 250 high-impact articles (>120 first or senior-authored), book chapters and books cited over 9,200 times; Dr. Duncan’s research has appeared in major media outlets including U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, The New York Times and CNN. Dr. Duncan’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the HIV Prevention Trials Network, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Verizon Foundation, and the Aetna Foundation.

Principal Investigator, Cannabis Use, PrEP and HIV Transmission Risk Among Black MSM in Chicago. Active

Principal Investigator, Characterizing Sleep, ART Adherence and Viral Suppression Among Black Sexual Minority Men. Active

Principal Investigator, Impact of Social Cohesion and Social Capital in PrEP Uptake and Adherence Among Transwomen of Color. Active

Principal Investigator, MyPEEPs Mobile LITE: Limited Interaction Efficacy Trial of MyPeeps Mobile to Reduce HIV Incidence and Better Understand the Epidemiology of HIV among YMSM. Active

Principal Investigator, Activity Space Neighborhoods, Drug Use and HIV Among Black MSM in the Jackson, MS MSA. Completed

Principal Investigator, Feasibility Assessment of Real-Time Geospatial Methods to Explore Social and Spatial Contexts of Substance Use and HIV Risk in YMSM. Completed

Principal Investigator, Formative Research on How to Deliver Alcohol Interventions in the Context of HIV Prevention and Care among Black Sexual Minority Men. Completed

Principal Investigator, Health App Use among Verizon Users. Completed

Principal Investigator, Impact of Neighborhoods and Networks on HIV Prevention and Care Behaviors Among Black MSM in the Deep South. Completed

Principal Investigator, Neighborhood Activity Space, Drugs and HIV Risk Among Black MSM in the Deep South. Completed

Principal Investigator, Neighborhoods, Mobility and HIV Among Young MSM. Completed

Principal Investigator, PrEP Uptake and Adherence among Young Black MSM: Neighborhood and Network Determinants. Completed

Principal Investigator, Promoting Social Capital for Increased HIV Prevention and Care Among Sexual Minority Men in Nairobi, Kenya. Completed

Feelemyer J, Duncan DT, Akhidenor N, Mazumdar M, Irvine NM, Scheidell JD, Brewer RA, Turpin RE, Hucks-Ortiz C, Dyer TV, Cleland CM, Mayer KH, Khan MR (2025).
Police harassment and psychiatric, sexual, and substance use risk among Black sexual minority men and Black transgender women in the HIV Prevention Trials 061 cohort
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 12 (2), 692-702. doi: 10.1007/s40615-024-01909-1. PMCID: PMC11470103.

Ghanooni D, Carrico AW, Flentje A, Moreno PI, Harkness A, Dilworth S, Pahwa S, Pallikkuth S, Regan S, Aouizerat BE, Duncan DT (2025).
Neighborhood-level adversity and inflammation among sexual minority men living with HIV
Health Psychology, 44 (3), 188-196. doi: 10.1037/hea0001479. PMCID: PMC11856452.

Gamarel KE, Duncan DT, Mustanski B, Carrico A (2025).
Envisioning a bright and affirming future for sexual and gender minority health research
Health Psychology, 44 (3), 171-175. doi: 10.1037/hea0001492.

Knox J, Magana C, Duncan DT, Shrader CH, Wilson A, Keedy S, Pagkas-Bather J, Chen YT, Schneider JA (2025).
Cannabis use and HIV among Black sexually minoritized men: A systematic review and narrative analysis
AIDS [Epub 2025 Feb 7]. doi: 10.1097/qad.0000000000004149.

Moody RL, Gutkind SD, Goncalves P, Philbin M, Duncan DT, Martins SS (2025).
Driving under the influence of alcohol and cannabis by sexual identity, race, ethnicity, and gender: A nationwide analysis using the 2016 to 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
Substance Use & Addiction Journal., 46 (1), 34-44. doi: 10.1177/29767342241273419.