Lauren Brown, PhD, LCSW

Dr. Lauren Brown is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a PhD in Social Work. She is the Director of Behavioral Health & Research at Nashville CARES and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine (Vanderbilt University Medical Center) and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Human and Organizational Development (Vanderbilt University). As an educator, clinician, macro practitioner, and community-based investigator, she provides a strong link between medical and community-based HIV care that helps bridge research-to-practice gaps. With an extensive background as a psychotherapist, Dr. Brown offers a unique set of skills to the TN CFAR. Her research focuses on the intersection of HIV and various issues—largely psychological trauma, intimate partner violence, mental health, substance abuse, and food insecurity—and includes prospective data collection throughout the United States as well as South Africa. A major focus of her work has been on the implementation of trauma-informed care (TIC) in HIV care settings, with her TIC research largely funded by ViiV Healthcare and efforts towards organizational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (as core components of TIC) funded by the Gilead COMPASS initiative. She collaborates regularly, with other HIV providers in the Deep South, to refine the standard of HIV care through community-engaged research and attention to social and behavioral determinants of HIV health disparities