Dr. Lauren Brown is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, in the Infectious Disease Division and Department of Health Policy, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Adjunct Assistant Professor at Meharry Medical College in the Department of Family and Community Medicine; member of the Executive Committee for the Tennessee Center for AIDS Research, where she is the Assistant Director of the Implementation Science Core; and sponsor with Northwestern University's Implementation Science Coordination Initiative.

She is also a past fellow of the HIV, Infectious Disease and Global Health Implementation Research Institute at the Institute for Public Health – Center for Dissemination and Implementation at Washington University at St. Louis and the Inter-CFAR Implementation Science Fellowship with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and previous member of the Detroit Urban Research Center’s Community-Based Participatory Research Academy.

Her work is currently supported by Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Science of Engagement) and the National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH131471-01A1) and concentrates on the implementation of trauma-informed care in HIV clinics (St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital) and community-based settings (Nashville CARES). 

Previously, she served as the Director of Behavioral Health & Research at Nashville CARES and practiced as a psychotherapist for over a decade in various settings, concentrating on psychological trauma, intimate partner violence, mental health, and substance use. 

She also has extensive experience conducting prospective studies throughout the Southern United States as well as South Africa. 

Her past research has been funded by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) via Developmental Core Awards with the Tennessee (TN) Center for AIDS Research (TN-CFAR) (P30AI110527) and the Research Centers for Minority Institutions (RCMI) (U24MD15970) via the Southeast Collaborative for Innovative and Collaborative Solutions to Chronic Disease Disparities Center (1P50MD017347-01), ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action Southern Initiative, and Gilead Compass.

Michiel Adriaan (Riaan) van Zyl, Ph.D. is Director of the USF School of Social Work. He received his MSW (‘78) from the Rand Afrikaans University and his Ph.D. (‘86) from the University of Natal in South Africa.

Dr. Van Zyl’s academic background and education provided him with an international perspective of social work education and knowledge building, in particular in sub-Sahara Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He played a leading role in the enhancement of educational experiences of students at different institutions.

Dr. Van Zyl conducted several studies on new strategies to improve the identification of persons unaware of their HIV-1 infection and successfully link them to HIV testing, treatment, and prevention interventions. He collaborated on studies of STDs, teenage pregnancy prevention, prevention of child abuse and neglect, and other health-risk behaviors. His interest in prevention research also includes chronic disease and health disparities. His research interest in child welfare focusses on the prevention of child abuse and neglect, child welfare practice models and quality improvement in social service delivery. He led initiatives to curtail the crises of over-crowding in prisons and collaborated across sectors in advancing implementation science.  His work on measurement impacted various fields of practice including corrections, education, prevention of behavioral problems in young children, risk reduction, and organizational change. 

Dr. Van Zyl collaborated on 27 funded research projects as an investigator or evaluator.