Profile

Dr. Suhas Shewale is a Post-Doctoral Scholar at the University of Central Florida in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics. She holds a PhD in Health Sciences from Pune University, India. She worked at the Indian Council of Medical Research – National AIDS Research Institute for nearly ten years, where she also conducted her doctoral research. Her PhD research focused on exploring reproductive and sexual health needs of commercial sex workers in rural and urban areas in India. She was awarded the NIH Fogarty Global Health Fellowship to conduct this research.

Her work primarily focused on HIV and reproductive and sexual health, employing mixed methods research and community engagement approach to study health needs of disadvantaged populations. She has contributed to the development and implementation of community engagement interventions for HIV, vector borne diseases, and maternal and child health in rural India.

At UCF Suhas contributes to the qualitative research studies focused on exploring substance use treatment access and quality, and harm reduction. She is also a member of the Substance Use Policy & Evaluation (SUPER) research team.

Her research interests include exploring the reproductive and sexual health needs of individuals with substance use disorder, harm reduction strategies, improving access to healthcare, and reducing disparities in health outcomes among disadvantaged populations.