About Larkin

With training in behavioral and social epidemiology, health behavior, and education, I work as global health and international development research strategist and communications specialist. I have a specific focus on translational HIV research, rights and access to healthcare, and sustainable models for treatment in developing countries and resource poor settings. I have a number of years of experience working in and with teams in over 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

I completed my doctorate at Columbia University, where my training was dedicated to HIV, disparities in access to and quality of care, and how those issues interplay with broader social systems. My primary epidemiological and research focus is infectious disease in sexual health (including the impact of sexual violence in conflict); my primary applied focuses are international development and capacity building in low-middle income countries, and effectively translating and communicating science research for advocacy and policy. I completed a public health journalism fellowship at Columbia, where I was trained to articulate scientific research and epidemiological trends into messaging and communications for policy, advocacy, and programs.

Following this, I directed the global health education and training programs at the Stanford School of Medicine, working with clinicians and researchers to develop and launch projects in 10+ developing countries in Africa, South America, and Asia; I also was a professor of global health research methods. I then became managing director of the UCSF-Gladstone NIH-funded Center for AIDS Research, focused on HIV research development and scaling up international partnerships in Eastern and Southern Africa. I subsequently served as the Deputy Project Director for Implementation for the PHIA Project, a CDC-funded PEPFAR surveillance project spanning 13 sub-Saharan countries at ICAP at Columbia, assessing PEPFAR’s contributions to reducing HIV incidence, increasing viral load suppression, and upping the number of HIV-infected persons on treatment. In each of these roles, I oversaw project partnerships with foreign governments, ministries of health, federal agencies, and partners in country. I subsequently directed strategy, communications, and partnerships for the AIDS Research Institute at UCSF, covering domestic and international HIV work at UCSF and affiliates. Presently, I lead global PrEP, HIV prevention, and HIV cure public affairs and communications at Gilead Sciences.

I continue to work as a freelance writer and strategic communications consultant, and have been a contracted grant writer delivering investigators over $20 million in NIH funding. As a United Nations correspondent and UN press corps member, I worked with country missions, ambassadors, and press secretaries; as a research reporter for Women Under Siege I codified some of the earliest cases of sexual violence in Syria’s civil war. With bylines and as a ghostwriter, I translate epidemiological, development, and policy research, craft talking points and speeches, and advise on pressers, media strategies, and PR for global health groups and NGOs. I’m also honored to serve on the Board of Directors of Komera, a Rwandan girls education and development non-profit; PRC, a San Francisco-based social services, health, workforce development and economic security organization; and the Ginetta Sagan Fund of Amnesty International, which honors the work of women human rights leaders around the world.

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