Marguerita Lightfoot, Ph.D., named Research Week keynote speaker

Marguerita Lightfoot, Ph.D.

Marguerita Lightfoot, Ph.D., has been named a keynote speaker for OHSU Research Week 2022. Lightfoot joined the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health as associate dean for research on Sept. 21, 2021.

“Dr. Lightfoot’s commitment to promoting health and an equitable society, and her core values of social justice, service, integrity, ethics, impact and excellence align completely with those of the School of Public Health,” said David Bangsberg, M.D., M.P.H., when she joined the school.

Join the Webex keynote.

Lightfoot’s research has focused on HIV and the social determinants of health and health equity. As associate dean, she is working to deepen the school’s anti-racism work, which includes dedicated support for an Antiracism Initiative. A first-generation college student, her goals include growing the research pipeline by creating opportunities for first generation and underrepresented minority students, as well as cultivating opportunities for undergraduates.

Lightfoot is one of three PIs on a collaborative health disparities study that was awarded a $9 million grant in October 2021 from the National Institute of Health’s “Transformative Research to Address Health Disparities and Advance Health Equity” program.

She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in counseling psychology from UC-Los Angeles. Before joining OHSU, she was a professor of medicine at the UC-San Francisco, Walter Gray Endowed Chair in HIV Science, and director of the CDC-funded UCSF Prevention Research Center.

She will speak on May 3.