Angela A. Aidala received the PhD in Sociology from Columbia University. Her undergraduate degree is from Miami (Ohio) University where she majored in history and fine arts. She also completed a program in psychiatric assessment and treatment at Rockland College (Kansas), affiliated with the Menninger Institute, and has worked in community mental health settings.

Current Interests

Dr. Angela A. Aidala is a social scientist with extensive experience in designing, conducting, and analyzing field-based research utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data collection methodologies. Dr. Aidala's primary interest is the intersection of economic, social, and cultural influences on health and illness especially among disadvantaged populations. Her recent work has focused on research, teaching, and service delivery strategies to work effectively with hard to reach or 'hidden' populations in urban settings including the homeless, mentally ill, substance users, runaway or street youth and/or persons living with HIV/AIDS. She is committed to applied public health and action research - working with policy makers, practitioners, and advocates to bring social research to bear on social change. Since 1989, Dr. Aidala has been on the faculty of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences and prior to that was on the faculty of Rutgers University.

Dr. Aidala currently Co-Director of the federally funded Evaluation Technical Assistance Center (ETAC) at Columbia which provides evaluation research assistance to community based organizations throughout the nation who have received demonstration grants for innovative HIV service delivery programs serving difficult-to-reach clients and those with multiple needs. She directs the Multiple Diagnoses Initiative (MDI), working with housing providers to better understand the reciprocal relationship between housing and health care among persons living with HIV/AIDS who also struggle with mental illness and/or chronic substance abuse problems. She also directs a collaborative project involving CDC and HUD to examine the relationship between homelessness and HIV risk behaviors, and risk reduction associated with providing housing and related services. The research is designed to direct attention to structural factors affecting the HIV epidemic with a mind to providing data for policy and program recommendations. Dr. Aidala is Co-Principal Investigator and Study Director of the ongoing Community Health Advisory Information Network (CHAIN) project which has provided a range of research and evaluation services for New York City's Title I Health and Human Services Planning Council. Dr. Aidala was invited to give the first presentation to the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS on the relationship between homelessness and HIV. She won an award from the American Planning Association for her co-authored article showing the lack of negative impact of scattered site public housing on middle class neighborhoods, contrary to residents' fears. This research has become a resource for desegregation and special housing advocates.

Publications

Aidala A, Jackson T, Fuentes-Mayorga N, Burman R. Housing, Health and Wellness Study New York: Bailey House, Inc. 2000.

Aidala A, Dean L, Lekas M, Litwak E, Moulton H, Weinberg G. The Housing and Service Needs of Older New Yorkers Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS. New York: Mayor's Office of AIDS Policy Coordination. 1998.

Messeri P, Abramson D, Aidala A, Lee F and Lee G. The Impact of Ancillary HIV Services on Engagement in Medical Care in New York City. AIDS Care, forthcoming.

Fullilove E, Fullilove MT, Northridge M, Ganz M, Bassett M, McLean D, Aidala A, Gemson D, McCord C. Risk Factors for Excess Mortality in Harlem: Findings from the Harlem Household Survey. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 1999, 16(3): 22 - 28.

Briggs X, Darden J, Aidala A. In the Wake of Desegregation: Early Impacts of Scattered-Site Public Housing on Receiving Neighborhoods in Yonkers, New York. J. American Planning Assoc, 1999, (65:1): 27-49.

Messeri P, Aidala A, Abramson D, Healton C, Jones-Jessop D, Jetter D. Recruiting Rare and Hard to Reach Populations: A Sampling Strategy for Surveying NYC Residents Living with HIV/ AIDS. American Statistical Assoc. Proceedings. 1996.

Healton C, Haviland ML, Weinberg G, Messeri P, Aidala A, Stein G, Jessop D, Jetter D. Stabilizing the HIV/AIDS workforce: Lessons from the New York City Experience. Oxford Preventive Medicine, Supplement 1996, (12:4):39-46.

Brunswick A, Aidala A. Adult Consequences of Adolescent Childbearing: The Longitudinal Harlem Health Study. In Black Youth: Their Social and Economic Status in the United States. R. Taylor, Ed. New York: Praeger. 1994.

Mufson L, Aidala A, Warner V. Social dysfunction and psychiatric disorder in mothers and their children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1994, 33(9): 1256-1264.

Brunswick A, Aidala A, Dobkin J, Howard J, Titus SP, Banaszak-Holl J. HIV-1 seroprevalence and risk behaviors in an African-American community cohort. American Journal of Public Health, 1993, 83(10): 1390-1394.