Matthew Town, PhD, MPH (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)

Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, Pacific University Oregon

Matthew Town, PhD, MPH, is a behavioral health scientist whose research focuses on the HIV and substance use prevention and treatment needs of American Indian and Alaska Natives (AIAN), sexual minorities, and AIAN sexual minorities. Dr. Town received his MPH in Global Health from Oregon State University, and his PhD in Sociology from the Portland State University. During his doctoral training, Dr. Town worked at the Program Design and Evaluation Services for the Oregon Department of Health on the Oregon Medical Monitoring Project, a CDC funded epidemiological study for persons living with HIV. He was awarded fellowships from the Northwest Native American Research Centers for Health Fellowship, the American Sociological Association’s Minority Fellowship Program, and the Indigenous Substance Abuse, Medicines, Addictions Research and Training (ISMART) Program. With his experience and support, his current work examines the social and cultural determinants of HIV and substance use related risk behavior. Specifically, his dissertation examined the impact of multiple forms of discrimination on HIV risk among Native men that have sex with men. Through his fellowship with ISMART, Dr. Town continues to investigate social and cultural mechanisms that influence substance use among AIAN sexual minorities.

His research interests include HIV prevention, treatment, and care; substance use prevention; health disparities; medically vulnerable/underserved populations; American Indian and Alaska Native health; LGBT health; minority identity development; intersectionality; intervention development and evaluation; and community-based participatory research.