Spotlight on Emily Esposito

Emily Esposito, PhD
T32 Postdoctoral Fellow

How did you first learn about Michelle Birkett, who directs I.AIM's Center for Computational & Social Sciences in Health (COMPASS)?
I first heard about Michelle Birkett when I applied to the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) T32 postdoctoral fellowship. She was one of the possible mentors through that program, so I read up on her and her research when I applied. I was later paired with her as a potential mentor, so I got to know her through the interview process. Once I accepted the postdoctoral fellowship, I first learned about I.AIM.

What factors interested you in working with I.AIM?
I have always been interested in innovative ways to understand and improve health, which is in line with I.AIM’s direction and values. AI provides so many opportunities to understand health, from detecting cancer to creating models of disease spread, and I love working in a place that promotes the ways that AI can promote better research.

How has your experience in I.AIM changed you?
I.AIM has shown me a side of research that I had not been familiar with, that uses AI with data to promote health. In working with Michelle Birkett specifically, I have learned about public health research, specifically research that uses human collected data to create synthetic populations and model changes over time. This has opened up my mind to the possibilities in research, especially in research that aims to improve health outcomes.

What are your plans for the future?
My future goals are to stay in academic research, continuing to study LGBTQ+ health disparities with a focus on structural and social determinants of health. I would love to continue this research here, at ISGMH and COMPASS. However, I cannot predict what is to come, and I would be excited to work anywhere that allows me to do such research.

What projects are you currently working on or interested in?
I’m currently working on some research related to HIV risk among men who have sex with men and transgender women, with a focus on how places within Chicago affect HIV risk and how HIV risk may vary among people with multiple stigmatized identities, such as Black and Hispanic populations. I also plan to work on some new projects that focus on HIV risk among people who relocate to cities, looking to the ways in which cities promote HIV risk among these populations.

Would you like to share a publication you are most proud of being associated with?
I have a few publications that are not yet out that I’m very proud of, but in terms of publications that I can share, my project on gay migration is my favorite. Here's a link to the publication without a paywall.

What would people be surprised to know about you?
Before I got my PhD in social psychology, I graduated with a degree in chemistry and worked as a chemist before going back to school. I was an organic chemist and across jobs and internships, I worked in a few labs that created many different outputs, including an antimalarial drug, glue for medical devices, and conditioning shampoos.

What is a cause that you are passionate about?
I care a lot about LGBTQ+ rights, and I am very passionate about promoting inclusivity and acceptance of everyone in my community, but right now, I am particularly passionate about trans rights. I have spent a lot of my career focusing on the physical and mental health of LGBTQ+ people and the ways in which prejudice and bias can affect LGBTQ+ people, and I find it especially dire right now to speak up for my community.

What have you learned (or are learning) that's made a difference for you?
One thing that has always guided my research, and my life more broadly, is how health is closely tied to our environments, contexts, and experiences. Discrimination, stress, and bias can all affect our mental and physical health, and I find it so important to consider how all these factors affect people. One project I’m working on (manuscript in preparation) examines how the average bias in a region (e.g., state, county, country) can affect many other types of outcomes, such as greater racial bias predicting higher mortality among Black people, and these findings are so crucial in understanding how external factors relate so much to health and well-being.

What has been your greatest challenge?
My greatest challenge has been finding my place as the researcher that I am, particularly figuring out how to research LGBTQ+ populations and health. Prior to my current position, I was at an institution that did not do a lot of LGBTQ+ focused research, and I worked with a mentor that had little experience in health research. I had to carve out space for my research, find resources to improve my research skills, and rely on my own expertise and knowledge to shape a lot of the research I did. Further, I often felt that I was pioneering ideas that had yet to be studied, which made me rely on synthesizing ideas across multiple bodies of research. In the end, these experiences made me a stronger researcher.

What advice would you give to a student wanting to get into this field of study?
Be passionate about what you do. Research is not always easy, and there are so many challenges in our work, but research is so much easier when you care about what you’re doing. Also, find good people and surround yourself with them. A good mentor can make all the difference in our field, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without my amazing mentors. Great collaborators, colleagues, and mentees will also make all the difference, for when you need support or want to create good, interesting science.

What is your favorite spot on campus and why?
In all honesty, I have not explored the campus too much, but I love my space on the 15th floor where I am surrounded by my fellow researchers. The view of Michigan Ave. is a plus but having so many great researchers and colleagues around really makes it my favorite space.

Who inspires you?
So many people inspire me, so this will not be a complete list, but I will start with my mentor, Michelle Birkett, who inspires me to be the best researcher and colleague that I can be. There are also so many researchers that inspire me, but two people who really contributed to my understanding of research have been Ilan Meyer, who originated the Minority Stress Model, which guides how I think about LGBTQ+-based research, and Mark Hatzenbuehler, who has done so much research on structural bias and LGBTQ+ people.