Rebecca Fielding-Miller PhD, MSPH

University of California, San Diego
Curriculum Vitae

Rebecca Fielding-Miller PhD, MSPH
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Addressing Health Disparities With Social Science

Dr. Rebecca Fielding-Miller is an Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health with a secondary appointment in the School of Medicine Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health. She has extensive multidisciplinary collaborations across the UCSD campus and is a faculty member in the Center on Gender Equity and Health, the Airborne Institute, and the Soil Health Center.

Dr. Fielding-Miller holds a PhD in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education from Emory University, and an MSPH in International Health with a focus on Social and Behavioral Interventions from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa from 2006-2008 and as a Fulbright Scholar in Swaziland in 2013-2014.

National dissemination meeting for southern Africa’s first campus climate survey (University of Eswatini, 2019)
Fielding-Miller Lab

The Fielding-Miller Lab conducts community-centered research that prioritizes transparency, empathy, and health equity. Our goal is to amplify marginalized voices using rigorous scientific methods. We create evidence that reflects the priorities and lived experiences of marginalized communities and develop interventions that address structural drivers of COVID-19, HIV, and gender-based violence.


Research

Dr. Fielding-Miller works to understand and address the root causes of health disparities, with an emphasis on gender, race, and economics. Her research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, California Department of Public Health, and private funders.

HIV and Gender Based Violence

  • Gamechangers/Yilamu Mfundzi Ngcii Ngami
  • Intimacy and Sexual Health Intervention Pilot for University Students (I SHIP US)

Caregivers, school communities, and COVID-19

  • Stories of care: Community-engaged action research to address caregiver burn-out in socially vulnerable communities
  • Safer At Schools Early Alert (SASEA)

Community engagement and participatory research

  • Youth Climate Advisors
  • Community Engagement in Soil Microbiome Research
  • Participatory translational research to address antimicrobial resistance
  • Community engaged research ethics

Selected Publications

  • Hatcher, Abigail M.; Metheny, Nicholasc; Dunkle, K.L.; Fielding-Miller, Rebecca (2025). A refusal to abandon HIV science AIDS
  • Fielding-Miller, R., McDougal, L., Frost, E. et al (2024). Association between sexual violence and depression is mediated by perceived social support among female university students in the kingdom of Eswatini BMC Public Health 24, 2526
  • A Van Vo, A Majnoonian, F Shabalala, S Masuku, R Fielding-Miller (2024). “Hope is being stirred up”: Critical consciousness in gender-based violence interventions Social Science & Medicine 357, 117175
  • McDougal, L., Erikat, J., Yusufi, H., Sahid, R., Streuli, S., & Fielding-Miller, R. (2022). Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on refugee communities in San Diego, California: A participatory action research cross-sectional study SSM-Population Health 18, 101110
  • Hatcher, A. M., Page, S., Aletta van Eck, L., Pearson, I., Fielding-Miller, R., Mazars, C., & Stöckl, H. (2022). Systematic review of food insecurity and violence against women and girls: Mixed methods findings from low-and middle-income settings PLOS Global Public Health 2(9), e0000479
  • Omaleki, V., Vo, A. V., Flores, M., Majnoonian, A., Le, T., Nguyen, M., ... & Fielding-Miller, R. (2022). “It’s hard for everyone” systemic barriers to home confinement to prevent community spread of COVID-19 Translational Behavioral Medicine ibac074-ibac074
  • Fielding-Miller, R., Kim, S., Bowles, J., Streuli, S., & Davidson, P. (2022). “We’re already doing this work”: ethical research with community-based organizations. BMC Medical Research Methodology 22(1), 1-10
  • Fielding-Miller R., Sundaram M., Brouwer B. (2020). Social Determinants of COVID-19 Mortality at the County Level. PLoSONE
  • Parmley L, Fielding-Miller R, Mnisi Z, Kennedy CE (2019) Obligations of motherhood in shaping sex work, condom use, and HIV care among Swazi female sex workers living with HIV. African Journal of AIDS Research. 18:3, 254-257, DOI: 10.2989/16085906.2019.1639521
  • Fielding-Miller R., Shabalala F., Masuku S., Raj A. (2019). Epidemiology of campus sexual assault among university women in Eswatini. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
  • Hay, K., McDougal, L., Percival V., Henry S., Klugman J., Wurie, H., Raven, J., Shabalala, F., Fielding-Miller, R., Dey, A., Dehingia, N., Morgan, R., Atmavilas, Y., Saggurti, N., Yore, J., Blokhina, E., Huque, R., Barasa, E., Bhan, N., Kharel, C., Silverman, J., Raj, A. (2019). Disrupting Gender Norms in Health Systems: Making the Case for Change. The Lancet.
  • Sileo, K. M., Fielding-Miller, R., Dworkin, S. L., & Fleming, P. J. (2019). A scoping review on norms of masculinity and HIV care engagement among men in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS Care.
  • Fielding-Miller R, Cooper HLF, Caslin S, Raj A. (2018). The interaction of race and gender as a significant driver of racial arrest disparities for African American men. Jounral of Urban Health
  • Sileo KM, Fielding-Miller R, Dworkin SL, Fleming PJ. (2018). What role do masculine norms play in HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa?: A scoping review. AIDS and Behavior, 22(8) 2468-2479.
  • Guest Editor for a Special Issue of the African Journal of AIDS Research on What the World Can Learn from Swaziland
  • Fielding-Miller R, Dunkle K. (2017). Constrained relationship agency as the risk factor for intimate partner violence in different models of transactional sex. African Journal of AIDS Research
  • Fielding-Miller R, Dunkle K, Hadley C, Cooper HLF, Windle M. (2017). Agency as a mediator in the pathway from transactional sex to HIV among pregnant women in Swaziland: A multigroup path analysis. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 20(1)
  • Ruark A, Fielding-Miller R (co-first authors) (2016). Using qualitative methods to validate and contextualize quantitative findings: A case study of research on sexual behavior and gender based violence among young Swazi women. Global Health: Science and Practice
  • Fielding-Miller, R., Dunkle, K. L., Jama-Shai, N., Windle, M., Hadley, C., & Cooper, H. L. (2016). The feminine ideal and transactional sex: Navigating respectability and risk in Swaziland. Social Science & Medicine, 158, 24-33
  • Fielding-Miller R, Davidson P, Raj A. (2016). Blacks face higher risk of arrest in White neighborhoods. International Journal of Drug Policy, 32 100-103.
  • Meagley K, Schriver B, Geary R, Fielding-Miller R, Stein AD, Dunkle KL, Norris SA. (2016). The gender dimensions of help-seeking behaviors of young adults in Soweto, South Africa. Global Health Action, 9
  • Fielding-Miller R, Dunkle K, Murdock D. (2015). “Not everyone can afford an apple a day”: Stigma and food insecurity in rural South African young adults. African Journal of AIDS Research, 14(4) 361-369
  • Fielding-Miller R, Dunkle K, Cooper HLF, Windle M, Hadley, C. (2015). Cultural consensus modeling to measure transactional sex in Swaziland: Scale building and validation. Social Science and Medicine, 148 25-33
  • Fielding-Miller R, Mnisi Z, Dlamini N, Baral S, Kennedy C. (2014) 'There is hunger in my community': food security as a cyclically driving force in sex work in Swaziland. BMC Public Health, 14(1) 79
  • Kennedy CE, Baral SD, Fielding-Miller R, Adams D, Dludlu P, Sithole B, Fonner VA, Mnisi Z, Kerrigan D. (2013) "They are human beings, they are Swazi": intersecting stigmas and the positive health, dignity and prevention needs of HIV-positive men who have sex with men in Swaziland. J Int AIDS Society, Suppl 3:18749
  • Surkan PJ, Fielding-Miller R, Melchior M. (2012). Parental relationship satisfaction in French young adults associated with alcohol abuse and dependence. Addictive Behaviors, 37 (3) 313-317

Teaching

Dr. Fielding-Miller teaches courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the UCSD Bachelors of Science in Public Health, Global Public Health and the SDSU-UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Research on Substance Use. She also mentors undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. She has won multiple awards for mentorship and teaching, including the Golden Apple award for Undergraduate Teaching and the 2021 campus-wide Outstanding Mentor Award for undergraduate research.

Prospective students

Undergraduates who are currently enrolled in the BSPH program can find potential research opportunities on the department's website.

Current graduate students interested in working with Dr. Fielding-Miller for their thesis, practicum, or capstone are warmly invited to reach out to her directly.


Media

  • San Diego teens aren’t waiting to grow up to demand quicker end to Tijuana sewage crisis San Diego Union-Tribune, July 2024
  • Rebecca Fielding-Miller, a UCSD public health social scientist working with the youth advisors, said the teens' participation has been one of the most important factors of the overall research.

    “It was really important to us to make sure that the kids were not just learning about data collection, learning about air quality issues, but also that we were really listening to what is important to them,” she said. “Unless we are actually talking to and, more importantly, listening to people who are experiencing the biggest effects, then I don't think our science is doing everything that it could.”
  • Imperial Beach Students: Everybody Deserves Clean Air and Water Voice of San Diego, July 2024
  • San Diego research shows parents of young kids are feeling 'burnt out' KPBS, July 2024
  • "What would the story look like if their childcare center was a source of support? Imagine a world where people are getting everything they need and childcare is really at the center of that," said Rebecca Fielding-Miller, the lead researcher with the School of Public Health for UCSD.

Covid

  • Airplane Toilets Could Catch the Next COVID Variant The Atlantic, January 2023
  • Schools are another obvious target for small-scale wastewater testing. In San Diego, Rebecca Fielding-Miller directed a two-year surveillance program for elementary schools. It specifically focused on underserved communities, including refugees and low-income workers who were hesitant to seek out PCR testing. Regular wastewater testing picked up asymptomatic cases with high accuracy, providing school staff and parents with 'up to the minute' information about COVID-19 spread in their buildings
  • The Doctor Will Tweet You Now KPBS, September 2022
  • It was late one night in early March 2020, and Rebecca Fielding-Miller was on her laptop after putting her toddler to bed. As an epidemiologist at UC San Diego who specialized in infectious disease in sub-Saharan Africa, she was paying attention to the early spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and sensed what was coming.
  • More than 500 SDPD employees have filed requests to be exempt from COVID vaccinations KPBS, January 2022
  • The Refugee-Led Coalition Creating Collective Care Yes! Magazine, July 2021
    “As COVID-19 has rearranged our lives, it is striking how inequities are always amplified by infectious diseases,” says Rebecca Fielding-Miller, an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, in the Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health. She has researched structural drivers for HIV and gender-based violence in the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa, and says the health disparities in immigrant communities are clear: Brown and Black women bear the brunt of these inequities.

    “In order to do public health well, we need to stay still and listen to communities that we are trying to serve,” Fielding-Miller says.
  • Threat to vulnerable Americans rises as Delta variant spreads The Guardian, July 2021
    “We’re creating a situation where people who are immunocompromised, who are disabled, who are elderly, and who might not have mounted a strong immune response to the vaccine are unable to access public spaces out of fear,” said Rebecca Fielding-Miller, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Diego. “And I don’t think that’s really good public health.”
  • COVID-19 Early Detection System Tested in Schools by UC San Diego and San Diego County UC San Diego Health Newsroom, July 2021
    “The Safer at School Early Alert system is in the validation phase right now to understand how accurate these monitoring systems are in child care centers and elementary schools. But, there is another important piece which is what happens after we receive a positive signal for SARS-CoV-2,” said Fielding-Miller, the principal investigator. “Residents of the hardest hit communities are often reluctant to test for COVID-19, so we are working with these communities to try to understand how we can make testing feel safe and accessible. Because a signal going off without a test is alike a fire alarm going off without a fire extinguisher. It is not useful. It is just scary.”
  • Why You Should Stay Home On New Year’s Eve KPBS Midday Edition, December 2020
  • ‘It’s do or die for them.’ Life for San Diego’s refugees was tough. Then came COVID-19. inewsource, October 2020
    “None of us are safe until the people at the highest risk are safe. It’s an airborne infectious disease. To me, as a public health social scientist, the thing that we always need to be building for is ensuring that the people at the margins are taken care of,” Fielding-Miller said. “Because when they’re taken care of, everybody is taken care of.”
  • Uncounted: San Diego County’s pandemic victims far surpass official totals inewsource, October 2020
    “There’s no way we’re not undercounting folks who are undocumented, folks who are migrant workers, folks who live in mixed-status households,” said Rebecca Fielding-Miller, an assistant professor of public health at UC San Diego.
  • San Diego County’s Contact Tracing Struggles Explained KPBS, September 2020
  • San Diego Beaches, Parks And Restaurants Are Open, But Playgrounds Remain Closed KPBS, September 2020
  • New COVID-19 study offers ways to slow down spread in San Diego's Latino community CBS News 8, September 2020
  • UCSD epidemiologist discusses the science behind reopening San Diego County schools CBS News 8, August 2020
  • "Oh god... Here we go": San Diego State parties reveal a much deeper problem for colleges CBS News 8, August 2020
  • UC San Diego Assistant Professor Explains What County Must Do to Get Off Watch List NBC 7 San Diego, July 2020
  • Farmworkers Are Among Those at Highest Risk for COVID-19, Studies Show FRONTLINE, July 2020
  • Public Health officials urge protesters to get tested for COVID-19 KUSI News, June 2020
  • Contact Tracers Face Challenges As Businesses Reopen NBC 7 San Diego, June 2020
  • Coronavirus Magnifies Social Inequity In At-Risk Communities, Like The Unsheltered Population KPBS, June 2020
  • VOSD Podcast: The Blurry Lines of Stage 2 Reopening Voice of San Diego, May 2020
  • Commentary: An infectious disease expert says staying home is an act of ‘love, solidarity, science’ San Diego Union-Tribune, March 2020

Pre-Covid

Meet Rebecca Fielding-Miller, assistant professor in our Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health: https://t.co/o9Hnwlk5UX #WomenInSTEM #WomensHistoryMonth

She says: "believe in your own passion and skills — women too often denigrate their own expertise" pic.twitter.com/2VC9rNL8Yr

— UC San Diego School of Medicine (@UCSDMedSchool) March 27, 2019
  • Mothers Nurse Infants Downtown in Protest of Migrant Family Separations NBC 7 San Diego, June 2018
    “We’re here to show solidarity with families that are fleeing violence to seek a better future for their children,” said Rebecca Fielding-Miller, an activist, and mother to 9-month-old Esther.
  • Why Resistance? Sexual Violence Research Initiative, August 2017
  • Let Girls Learn. Center on Gender Equity and Health, May 2017
  • Solidarity with the vulnerable at Washington march. The San Diego Union-Tribune, January 2017
  • Ignoring ‘identity politics’ will only make us sicker. Medium, December 2016
  • Campus Sexual Assault in the United States: What the Research Tells us . Center on Gender Equity and Health, October 2016
  • The right kind of sex. UNAIDS Science Now, May 2016
  • Study: What Swazi Women Want for Sex. Times of Swaziland, January 2016

Presentations

What do we mean when we say transactional sex?

17 Feb, 2016 - STRIVE Learning Lab

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  • Background Photo: Mbabane, Eswatini