Larkin Callaghan

I recently completed my doctorate in Health and Behavior Studies at Columbia University, where I developed a particular interest in women's health and gender disparities in public health. I have three major focuses - reproductive health; the clustering of concurrent high-risk health behaviors in adolescent girls - including sexual activity, substance abuse, violence and victimization, and disordered eating; and the impact of sexual assault, sexualized violence and trauma on women. I have done research on and program practice in the areas of how the coordinated efforts of various social media platforms impact the understanding and retention of information in a sexual health education program, prevention and vaccine research for HIV/STIs, high-risk behavior modifcation utilizing motivational interviewing and harm reduction, adolescent sexual health behavior, and the prevalence and presentation of cases of sexualized violence in conflict. I'm currently a public health journalism fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, where I work on effectively translating public health research and epidemiological trends into writing and communications for policy, advocacy and programs.

I also work as a freelance writer outside of my fellowship - because I want to make sure the work I do above can be used for advocacy. I'm a member of the United Nations press corps for the news agency MediaGlobal, with breaking news at the UN about global health, society and culture, and innovation in the global south my main beat, though not exclusively. I blog about feminist and women's issues on my personal site, critique representations of gender in the media for a California-based literacy media organization, and my writing has been featured on sites like Jezebel and Sociological Images. I have also been interviewed on television and radio as an expert on adolescent health issues.

I am also an avid runner, an equestrian, and I remain an outdoor sports and California loyalist (born and raised in San Francisco and attended University of Southern California as an undergrad - Go Trojans!) despite years in New York City!