NIH fellowship funds UK education
student’s research on drug use
G
rowing up in Detroit, Michigan, Joi-Sheree
Knighton saw first-hand the implications of
drug use and the incidence of HIV infection
in African American men and women. Now, thanks
to a fellowship from the National Institutes of
Health, Knighton will continue to examine these
issues and the state of healthcare among these
populations.
“I have seen individuals struggle with substance use
and eventually overcome this disease,” said Knighton,
a doctoral student in the UK College of Education
Department of Educational, School and Counseling
Psychology. “The dissolution of long-term marriages
and families as a result of substance use is an all too
familiar story. It is not uncommon to overhear stories
of rampant frustration from the gross lack of services
available to get substance use treatment or mental
health care.”
The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service
Award Fellowship provides Knighton three years
of funding to support research for training in
epidemiology of substance use, mental health and
HIV as they relate to health disparities among African
Americans. The funding will also focus on providing
a hands-on role in the primary data collection of her
proposed National Institute on Drug Abuse project
examining substance use, mental health and HIV
in African American men involved in the criminal
justice system.
Knighton says without the mentorship of assistant
professor Danelle Stevens-Watkins, she never would
have had the confidence to conduct the research
necessary to receive the fellowship. She credits
Stevens-Watkins for taking the time to help her build
her research skills while also realizing the importance
of research in her academic pursuits.
And it’s Knighton’s life experience that greatly
informs her research. Working at the Federal Bureau
of Prisons in Lexington, she is reminded on a daily
basis how substance use affects lives. She says she is
given a visual image of the disproportionate rates
of incarcerated African American men for nonviolent, drug-related crimes. But with the negative,
she also has seen how many have achieved sobriety
“I remain driven by the
opportunity to achieve
something that has
implications for so many
people.”
—Joi-Sheree Knighton
UK doctoral student
and worked toward better mental health. Through
her graduate research she has seen a prevalence of
substance use and HIV infection among African
American men and women.
“Substance use has been identified as a predominant
HIV risk factor, particularly among African American
men who engage in unprotected sexual contact with
men and women,” Knighton said. “To complicate
things further, African Americans are significantly
less likely to seek treatment or drop out of treatment
prematurely d Ք