Dana L. Watnick, Ph.D.

Dana Watnick is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She serves as Director of the Qualitative and Mixed Methods Core at the Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and as Associate Director of the Behavioral and Implementation Science Core at the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research, where she consults on qualitative and mixed-methods design, behavioral and implementation science, and community-engaged research.

A social scientist by training, Dr. Watnick has more than two decades of experience conducting qualitative, mixed-methods, and community-engaged studies worldwide, primarily focused on sexual and reproductive health interventions, including health services and product implementation. Much of her work centers on engaging potential service users—such as adolescents, people who use drugs, student parents, and people living with HIV—and other key stakeholders to inform community-based and behavioral interventions, clinical studies, and the development of clinical assessments and questionnaires. Her HIV research focuses on strategies to link populations who could benefit from pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to PrEP care; address social determinants influencing PrEP and ART adherence; and support sustained engagement in care as risk persists. She is currently developing a community-based peer navigation model to introduce college students to HIV PrEP.

Dr. Watnick received her PhD in Community Health and Health Policy from the CUNY School of Public Health; her MPH and MSSW from Columbia University; and her BA from the University of Michigan.