Moses Okumu

Moses Okumu, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and an Adjunct Professor at the School of Social Sciences, Uganda Christian University. He holds a doctoral degree in social work from the University of Toronto. Dr. Okumu’s research focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions in marginalized communities. He seeks to understand and respond to drivers and co-occurrence of the triple health burden (i.e., infectious diseases [e.g., HIV/STIs]; non-communicable diseases [e.g., depression] and violence and injuries [e.g., youth violence]) that can affect the sexual health of youth facing multiple forms of adversity, including poverty, forced displacement, and HIV. His current research focuses on developing and evaluating digital interventions that further HIV prevention cascades and prevent sexual and gender-based violence among mobile youth populations in Uganda. Experienced with collaborative and community-engaged approaches, he has worked with communities in Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, and Canada to address local needs in ways that utilize and further strengthen existing networks.