Christopher Owens

About Christopher Owens

Christopher Owens, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Behavior at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health.

Dr. Owens is a health behavior scientist with specific training and expertise in rural HIV prevention and care, rural LGBTQ adolescent and adult health, and LGBTQ adolescent HIV prevention. His research takes a sociological perspective where he examines how intrapersonal (attitudes, skills), interpersonal (parents, primary care providers, mental health providers), organizational (health care organizations and systems), and communal (culture, politics) factors influence the health promotion and health disparities of rural HIV outcomes and rural LGBTQ health outcomes.

He is particularly interested in HIV prevention, HIV care, depression and anxiety, and loneliness and social connection outcomes among LGBTQ adolescents and adult populations living in rural areas. In addition to taking a socioecological perspective, Dr. Owens has training and is interested in implementation science, where he investigates how health care organizations and providers can better adopt, implement and sustain HIV preventative and care evidence-based practices.

Dr. Owens earned his Bachelor of Arts in sociology and communications from Marian University, his Master of Public Health in behavioral social and community health and his PhD in health behavior, both from Indiana University, and he is a postdoctoral scholar at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University.