Perry N Halkitis

Perry N Halkitis, PhD, MS, MPH, is a public health psychologist, infectious disease epidemiologist, applied statistician, researcher, educator, and advocate. Dr. Halkitis is currently Dean and Hunterdon Professor of Public Health & Health Equity Rutgers School of Public Health. He is also the founder and director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies (CHIBPS) and a primary member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the Global Health Institute. He holds the status of Professor Emeritus at the College of Global Public Health at New York University.

For three decades, the focus of his research has been on the emergence, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases, specifically, HIV, HPV, and other sexually transmitted infections, and more recently SARS-CoV-2. His program of study has sought to disentangle the biological, behavioral, psychosocial, and structural mechanisms that predispose people and populations to these infectious diseases, and the synergies of infectious disease with mental health burden - including drug abuse – primarily in sexual, gender, and racial, and ethnic minority populations.

Dr. Halkitis is the author of the 2019 book, Out in Time: The Public Lives of Gay Men from Stonewall to the Queer Generation. His 2013 book, The AIDS Generation: Stories of Survival and Resilience, is a 2014 Lambda Literary Award nominee. Both books received the American Psychological Association Distinguished Book Award in LGBT Psychology. Dr. Halkitis is also the author of Methamphetamine Addiction: Biological Foundations, Psychological Factors, and Social Consequences, and lead editor of two additional books. He has authored some 300 peer-reviewed academic manuscripts and also actively disseminates knowledge to mainstream media, appearing frequently on television, radio, print, and podcasts.

Dr. Halkitis has been the Editor in Chief of Behavioral Medicine since 2013 and is the Founding Editor in Chief of Annals of LGBTQ Public and Population Health, which published its first issue in 2020. Throughout his career, Dr. Halkitis has been on the forefront of fighting for the rights of those infected with and affected by HIV, as well as being an outspoken advocate for the rights and health of the LGBTQ+ population. Dr. Halkitis is actively involved in all aspects of community building and empowerment through the dissemination and translation of the innovative, timely, and valuable public health research that he and his teams at Rutgers and CHIBPS undertake. Dr. Halkitis has received numerous awards from both professional and community-based organizations. He is an elected a fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine, The Society of Behavioral Medicine, The European Academy of Translational Medicine, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and in four divisions of the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Halkitis serves on the Board of Directors of the Association for School and Programs of Public Health and the Hyacinth Foundation. He also serves on the advisory boards of both the New Jersey Public Health Advisory Committee and the Behavioral Risk Factor Survey Advisory Committee, the Tyler Clementi Center, and Safehouse, and is a Commissioner on Newark Mayor’s LGBT Advisory Committee. He previously served on the boards of Body Positive, GMHC, the Generations Project, the HIV League, the New Jersey Public Health Association, and the New York State Public Health Association.

Dr. Halkitis holds degrees in psychology, education, and public health.