An Interview with Researcher, Dr. Richard Jimenez

1. Please briefly describe your current research. 

My main research interests are HIV and STI (sexually transmitted infections) prevention,  patient safety and medical error reporting and prevention, and  I also enjoy program evaluation. 

2 How did you come to be in this area of study? 

I became aware of and interested in the challenges of HIV prevention when I worked as a volunteer for the American Red Cross.  Shortly after the first cases of HIV were reported in the U.S. in 1981 I started to lose friends to HIV and was appalled by the lack of response to the epidemic by many civic and Public Health agencies.  My interest in program evaluation started with my work with community based organizations and the need for these agencies to demonstrate the efficacy of their programs as they grew and applied for private and public funding for support of their mission and programs.   

3. What do like best about doing research? 

I particularly enjoy the collaborative nature of the research process, especially for community based research.  I believe that community based research should be based on trusting partnerships between the formal research staff and community stakeholders and leaders.    

4. What do you dislike the most about doing research? 

I don’t think there is anything that I particularly dislike about the research process, but I do find community based research sustainability a challenge given limited resources in many communities.  How to develop and implement research and health interventions that are sustainable in communities is often challenging and frustrating for me.   

5. Any advice for new researchers who would like to be published? 

For new researchers, network as much as possible and write for a variety of outlets, such as professional blogs, webpages, editorials, conference proceedings and comment sections.  Volunteering to review abstracts for professional meetings and conferences is another great way of networking and meeting potential editors and collaborators.  For journal submissions, be sure to write your research manuscript l to align with the editorial mission of the journal and to appeal to the readership for that particular journal. Also, follow the editorial guidelines to the letter.