Employment History:

Published Works:

Public Speaking Experience:

Why F is an Expert:
I consider myself to be an expert on non-injecting drug abuse and HIV.

Best Advice:
I would tell people to be culturally confident and understand the culture difference. It’s very different in the Caribbean as compared with the United States. The groups here are different and there is less sympathy for those who have a drug problem and HIV in Puerto Rico. If you have HIV, you are assumed to be doing drugs.

Passionate about:
I am passionate about helping to reduce the stigma and developing a social-epidemiological framework to help people understand the social network and capital that affect the disease here. That is what my RCMI project is about.

Biography Excerpt:
In the 1980s when HIV/AIDS was still a medical mystery to most of the general population, almost no one could have imagined the devastating impact it would have on the world. According to an article in an October 2008 issue of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,” 1,106, 400 people in the United States were living with HIV infection at the end of 2006, with nearly 21 percent of those cases being undiagnosed. Dr. Lisa Norman, an associate professor in the public health program at the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico, has dedicated her life’s work to informing people in low-income areas about ways to prevent HIV and its progression to AIDS.

     

Cambridge Who's Who: What would you like to promote most about yourself or your work?  
DR. LISA R. NORMAN PH.D:  I am interested in HIV prevention among impoverished populations. I started at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 1990 and resigned in 1999, but I continued my research. I went to Jamaica; now I live in Puerto Rico and have two grants here. I am the primary editor of an e-book about the overlooked epidemics of HIV and substance abuse in the Caribbean.

What is the most significant issue facing your profession today?
In the field of HIV prevention, a significant issue is the lack of testing. The stigma associated with being HIV-positive prevents people from getting tested, which is common here in the Caribbean. People are afraid and do not understand that you can’t get HIV from casual contact. They think you can get it from mosquitoes or drinking out of a water fountain, but you can’t get it those ways.

And what specific steps have you taken toward achieving these goals?
I’ve been asked to do some workshops in public housing to inform people, increase their knowledge, and hopefully decrease the stigma.