| Dr. Schenita Davis Randolph, assistant professor in the School of Nursing at North Carolina A&T State University, recently received a grant to begin conducting research on current and past HIV testing behaviors and attitudes of young Black women. The grant was awarded by the National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Research Network for Health Sciences and Health Disparities.
Randolph’s passion for HIV prevention began at the Guilford County Department of Public Health.
“I worked in the Family Planning and Women’s Health Division and in that clinic we also did STD and HIV counseling and education,” she said. “The experiences of actually having to inform women between the ages of 18 and 25 of their HIV-positive status stuck with me,” she explained.
She remembers seeing young Black men and women come to the clinic to be treated repeatedly for sexually transmitted diseases. There was one case where Randolph had to counsel a young woman about her HIV-positive status. Those experiences, among many others, influenced her commitment to educating others about STD and HIV prevention.
There was one case, involving a young woman who had an HIV-positive status that influenced her to stay committed to educating others about HIV prevention.
“Since then I’ve had a passion and a desire around HIV prevention and education and doing more research in terms of making sure that there are culturally appropriate interventions in place to address the disease,” she said.
Randolph submitted her proposal to the research network in the fall of 2013 as a newly appointed junior faculty member. She has worked at N.C. A&T since 2004 and has held positions as a clinical instructor, clinical assistant and clinical associate. To be eligible for the grant her proposal needed to focus on health disparities.
“When we look at routine HIV testing, we know it’s beneficial in reducing HIV risk behaviors by 21 percent, according to statistics from the CDC,” she said, “but 21 percent of people that are living with HIV do not actually know they are infected with the disease. That’s significant!”
Randolph earned a doctorate degree in public health with a focus on community health, promotion and education from Walden University. She also earned a master’s in Public Health Leadership from UNC-Chapel Hill and she a bachelor of science degree in nursing from A&T.
“As an undergraduate (student) taking community health nursing, I can see myself now sitting under Dr. Quick and just knowing, even in that class, that this is what I wanted to do,” she shared. “I have always had a desire to work in health care, more specifically in public health,” she added.
The proud Aggie hopes that the completion of her research will impact everyone that is affected by the HIV virus, HIV testing and education.
“I’m hoping to get at some social influences that impact current testing and past testing behaviors,” she said.
“I’m also hoping it will raise awareness for the women that participate in the study, but also help us as public health providers, researchers and others working with women and HIV testing," she said.
By: Courtney J. Jackson
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