Hunter Drake is beginning the second year of his PhD program in Public Health with a specialization in Community and Family Health at the University of South Florida. His prior academic pursuits led to a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Psychological Sciences with a focus in Experimental Psychology. Hunter currently serves as a graduate research assistant and holds a data analysis position at the USF Health Department of Pediatric Infectious Disease. His graduate assistantship work is contributing to a study on a smoking cessation e-health intervention for people living with HIV. He has also enjoyed the opportunity to teach Health Psychology and Psychology of Gender as an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

Hunter feels it is essential to give back to the community that has provided him with so much opportunity. To this end, he serves as the research manager for the REACH Youth Center at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, working with youth living with HIV. He has been the project manager/study coordinator for the USF Bijou and DeCIDER studies. USF Bijou addressed the efficacy of a program designed to provide accurate health education through an e-Health behavior and risk reduction intervention. The DeCIDER study is looking at an intervention to examine the decisional capacity of youth living with HIV to participate in research.

He shares his life with his partner Craig and two Jack Russell Terriers, Loki and Freja. Hunter is proud and humbled to be an HIV League Scholar.

St. Petersburg, FL - University of South Florida - Two-Year Full-Time 2020 HIV League Scholar ($7,000)