MSU Research Group on HIV
and Sexual Health
Our mission is to contribute to understanding of how to end the HIV epidemic through community-based action. The research and evaluations that we conduct focus on youth and young adults at high-risk of exposure to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and on community-based and structural interventions across the continuum of HIV prevention, testing and treatment. We have a particular focus on sexual minority youth and young adults of color and efforts to protect their health, foster their well being, and ensure their human rights. At the individual level, we seek to understand factors that impact on young people's ability to remain healthy. At the program level, we seek to identify programs and practices that help young people reduce their risk of exposure to HIV and improve their access to HIV testing and affirming medical care. At the organizational level, we seek to improve understanding of how HIV prevention programs are implemented in community settings, learn what organizational and environmental contingencies govern the application of evidence-based programs to community-based service provision, and examine the long-term consequences of implementing evidence-based programs and practices in community settings. At the structural level, we seek to understand effective strategies to reduce stigma and discrimination and facilitate access to HIV-related care and services.
News and Events:
Robin Lin Miller will be inducted as a member of the National Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship on July 30, 2025.
Robin Lin Miller appears on the EvaluLand podcast, episode 49, to talk with host Dana Linnell about Breaking Barriers and advocacy evaluation. You can listen to the interview on Apple Podcasts beginning July 8, 2025.
Breaking Barriers co-author George Ayala is the 2025 recipient of the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Community Psychology Practice from the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27 of the American Psychological Association).
Former graduate student Jaleah Rutledge is winner of the 2025 Dissertation of the Year Award from the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27 of the American Psychological Association).
The PRE Team presented at the Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research and Action in June, 2025.
The PRE Team presented at the 8th International Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment Conference in Chicago, April 9-11, 2025.
Breaking Barriers is here!
December 1, 2024
'Breaking Barriers' showcases how sexual and gender minority-led advocacy is reshaping HIV care in Africa and the Caribbean. The narrative traces the implementation and outcomes of a bold transnational community-led advocacy project, offering readers a window into the challenges and uncertainties community-led associations face as they seek to remove impediments to HIV care. The book is anchored by a personal narrative of evaluating the initiative and addresses fundamental questions about the generation of knowledge in transnational relationship and in support of advocacy. It considers the role of Global North funders, partners, and allies working in the Global South and the dynamics of their relationships. Order your copy today and join the movement for health equity. #BreakingBarriers #HIVAdvocacy #LGBTQHealth #GlobalHealth #LetCommunitiesLead #StopStigma #LeaveNooneBehind
“This book offers one of the most thorough descriptions available of what advocacy evaluation looks like when it is community-engaged, collaborative, driven by values, methodologically rigorous, and fully integrated into the work of advocates so that it supports their learning, adaptation, and the pursuit of their goals. As a longtime advocacy evaluator, I was deeply moved and incredibly inspired."
-Julia Coffman, Founder and Co-Executive Director, Center for Evaluation Innovation, Washington, DC
“A clear-eyed, thoughtful, reflexive analysis of a multi-country government- and INGO-funded initiative for improving access to HIV services, and the realities of the struggle for equal citizenship, inclusive health policies, and protection against violence for LGBTQ+ people. Miller and Ayala point the way for donors, governments, and civil society to adopt more engaged, participatory approaches to funding and evaluation, approaches grounded in immediate, often shifting, realities and in fundamental respect for community knowledge, priorities and experiences.”
-Laurel Sprague, Former Chief, Community Mobilization, UNAIDS
“This is a compassionate and honest account of advocacy for policy reform and strategic community-led responses to HIV prevention and LGBTQ+ persons' needs in Africa and the Caribbean regions. This compelling account of years of advocacy and lobbying neither idealizes nor trivializes partners committed to social transformation. Successes and failures provide the reader with much to learn from, especially, the importance of adaptative strategies of resilience in the face of resistance."
-Sybille N. Nyeck, Associate Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder
"Miller and Ayala are masterful storytellers. Their account of community-led advocacy, activism, and evaluation around global HIV prevention and care is told with humility and respect for the countless sexual and gender minority activists around the world who continue to fight for their communities despite incredible risks. Part riveting tale, part how-to guide - Breaking Barriers should be required reading for public health professionals, social scientists, program evaluators, and community activists alike."
-Deirdre Shires, Associate Professor, Social Work, Michigan State University
'Breaking Barriers' showcases how sexual and gender minority-led advocacy is reshaping HIV care in Africa and the Caribbean. The narrative traces the implementation and outcomes of a bold transnational community-led advocacy project, offering readers a window into the challenges and uncertainties community-led associations face as they seek to remove impediments to HIV care. The book is anchored by a personal narrative of evaluating the initiative and addresses fundamental questions about the generation of knowledge in transnational relationship and in support of advocacy. It considers the role of Global North funders, partners, and allies working in the Global South and the dynamics of their relationships. Order your copy today and join the movement for health equity. #BreakingBarriers #HIVAdvocacy #LGBTQHealth #GlobalHealth #LetCommunitiesLead #StopStigma #LeaveNooneBehind
“This book offers one of the most thorough descriptions available of what advocacy evaluation looks like when it is community-engaged, collaborative, driven by values, methodologically rigorous, and fully integrated into the work of advocates so that it supports their learning, adaptation, and the pursuit of their goals. As a longtime advocacy evaluator, I was deeply moved and incredibly inspired."
-Julia Coffman, Founder and Co-Executive Director, Center for Evaluation Innovation, Washington, DC
“A clear-eyed, thoughtful, reflexive analysis of a multi-country government- and INGO-funded initiative for improving access to HIV services, and the realities of the struggle for equal citizenship, inclusive health policies, and protection against violence for LGBTQ+ people. Miller and Ayala point the way for donors, governments, and civil society to adopt more engaged, participatory approaches to funding and evaluation, approaches grounded in immediate, often shifting, realities and in fundamental respect for community knowledge, priorities and experiences.”
-Laurel Sprague, Former Chief, Community Mobilization, UNAIDS
“This is a compassionate and honest account of advocacy for policy reform and strategic community-led responses to HIV prevention and LGBTQ+ persons' needs in Africa and the Caribbean regions. This compelling account of years of advocacy and lobbying neither idealizes nor trivializes partners committed to social transformation. Successes and failures provide the reader with much to learn from, especially, the importance of adaptative strategies of resilience in the face of resistance."
-Sybille N. Nyeck, Associate Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder
"Miller and Ayala are masterful storytellers. Their account of community-led advocacy, activism, and evaluation around global HIV prevention and care is told with humility and respect for the countless sexual and gender minority activists around the world who continue to fight for their communities despite incredible risks. Part riveting tale, part how-to guide - Breaking Barriers should be required reading for public health professionals, social scientists, program evaluators, and community activists alike."
-Deirdre Shires, Associate Professor, Social Work, Michigan State University
Paperback copies may be ordered through the Oxford University Press website or order an e-book through your favorite e-book provider.