Massy Mutumba’s research is aimed at developing evidence-based approaches to advance the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults globally, with a focus on communities affected by HIV, poverty and structural inequities. Her scholarship centers on the development and evaluation of scalable interventions that address intersecting challenges such as HIV prevention and care engagement, mental health, substance use, and sexual violence among adolescents and youth. Mutumba employs interdisciplinary methods and community-engaged research to ensure that interventions are contextually grounded, culturally responsive and sustainable. Her work integrates psychosocial, behavioral and structural perspectives to uncover barriers and facilitators to health, including stigma, trauma and economic insecurity. She leverages her expertise in psychometrics to develop and validate culturally appropriate measurement tools that assess key constructs such as stigma, mental health and health service utilization. She employs participatory approaches to develop and adapt evidence-based models — such as group-based HIV stigma reduction for educators (GED-HIVSR) and alcohol and drug use risk reduction (ADURR) for adolescents and youth — while working closely with local leaders to promote the utilization of post-sexual-violence health services. Her research spans sub-Saharan Africa and the United States, contributing to the global evidence base on adolescent and youth-centered health programs. 

Areas of Focus:

  • Global health
  • Adolescent and youth well-being
  • HIV prevention and care
  • Adolescent mental health and substance use
  • Sexual and reproductive health

Featured Publications