Nioud (Neo) M. Gebru is a fourth year PhD student in the Department of Health Education and Behavior in the College of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida. Gebru earned his BA in psychology and MPS. in clinical psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. He earned is MS in health education and behavior from the University of Florida and is currently completing his PhD.
Gebru recently completed an NIH/NCATS Predoctoral Fellowship with a concentration in clinical and translational science, mentored by Robert Leeman, PhD., and Janice Krieger, PhD, and is now an NIH/NIAAA T32 trainee with the Southern HIV and Alcohol Research Consortium (SHARC), with training in translational HIV and alcohol research.
Gebru has recently successfully obtained two grants as PI including an F31 entitled: “Using Behavioral Measures to Assess Change in HIV Sexual Risk-Taking Following Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Uptake in Heavy Drinking Young Men who Have Sex with Men,” from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and a student research grant from APA Division 50 (Society for Addiction Psychology).
Gebru TL1 predoctoral fellowship is exploring rural tobacco users’ experiences and barriers to uptake of tobacco cessation and research participation. Gebru has nine peer reviewed and governmental publications and has presented his research widely at national conferences including the Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction conference, Research Society on Alcoholism, and the Association for Clinical and Translational Science conference.
He has won numerous awards and scholarships including the Best Poster Award from the Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction (CPA) conference, the Valera Jackson-Gissen Scholarship, the State of Florida Board of Education Fellowship, the Bright Future Summer Internship Scholarship, the Grinter Fellowship Award, and the Transfer Academic Excellence Scholarship, in addition to numerous travel awards to disseminate his work.
Gebru also engages in extensive service and is the research impact co-chair of the Black Graduate Student Organization and has helped to plan and co-chaired the University of Florida’s third and fourth Diversity Graduate Research Symposiums. He has also served as a graduate mentor for high school seniors, and a grant reviewer for graduate student travel awards. Gebru also enjoys playing tennis, meditating, and listening to thriller audiobooks (send recommendations). Div. 28 is excited to highlight Mr. Gebru’s work and to congratulate him on his current and future success.