Welcome to Deja Knight, PhD, MPH, MA, Assistant Research Professor

June 5, 2026

Pictured Above: Deja Knight, PhD, MPH, MA

We are thrilled to welcome Deja Knight, PhD, MPH, MA, who joins the Northwestern University Department of Medical Social Sciences as an Assistant Research Professor in the Division of Implementation Science.

Knight holds a PhD from the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also earned an MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and MA in Psychological and Brain Sciences from the University of Iowa. Before coming to MSS, she was a T32 Postdoctoral Fellow in the HIV Epidemiology and Implementation Science Methods Training Program within the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Knight’s research focuses on multilevel determinants of HIV risk, including trauma, stigma, and substance use; the influence of structural and cultural contexts such as race, gender, and geography; and the use of qualitative methods to inform implementation strategies and intervention development, particularly for key populations. Grounded in frameworks such as Intersectionality and the Theory of Gender and Power, she employs methodologies including in-depth interviews, focus groups, and community-based participatory research. Over the past seven years, she has conducted research with diverse populations across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. More recently, her work integrates qualitative, mixed-methods, and implementation science approaches to understand and address structural and behavioral drivers of HIV and substance use, particularly among adolescents, college students, and women in Baltimore, MD. 

Knight was awarded two Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) awards to support her research. The first was a $5,000 microgrant for work focused on HIV prevention among adolescents and young adults, and the second was a $10,000 postdoctoral pilot grant for her work on PrEP in college settings. She is proud of her formative research project examining HIV vulnerabilities, access to HIV prevention resources, and healthcare utilization among female college students in Baltimore. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study sought to understand the setting to best implement HIV prevention resources such as PrEP information for female college students to decrease their HIV vulnerabilities.

“I chose MSS because of their national recognition as a leading department that is using social and behavioral sciences to promote health equity for all,” said Knight. In her new role, she is very excited to learn new and innovative ways to implement PrEP into settings for those who need access to the medication most! Welcome Deja Knight!