ari scientists
William L. Holzemer, RN, PhD, FAAN
Dr. William L. Holzemer is professor of nursing and associate dean for international programs at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), School of Nursing. He also holds the position of Lillian and Aldous Dudley Endowed Chair in Nursing Science. Dr. Holzemer is the director of both UCSF’s World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Research and Clinical Training in Nursing and the International Center for HIV/AIDS Nursing Research. His program of research focuses on the concept of living well with HIV infection through self and family management of HIV-related symptoms, enhancing medication adherence, and managing HIV stigma.
Dr. Holzemer is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and member of the Japan Academy of Nursing. He is a former Fulbright Scholar (Egypt) and Project HOPE fellow (USA-Mexico border), and is a Visiting Professor at St. Luke’s College of Nursing, Tokyo. He is an elected member of the Board of Directors (2005–2009) of the International Council of Nurses, Geneva, Switzerland.
For the last 25 years, his research has centered on living with HIV as a chronic illness, focusing on symptom management, adherence, stigma, and quality of life for people with HIV, nationally and internationally, with a special emphasis on Africa. From 1999 to 2003, he collaborated with nurse faculty members from universities in Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, and Swaziland on self-care and family-care symptom management in the home for people living with HIV/AIDS. This work resulted in the development and validation of the Symptom Management Manual: Strategies for People Living with HIV/AIDS. (The manual is available in English, Afrikaans, Russian, Sesotho, Siswati, Spanish, and Zulu for free at www.aidsnursingucsf.org.)
Dr. Holzemer’s current research project, “Perceived AIDS Stigma: A Multinational African Study,” is supported by the NIH’s Fogarty International Center, the National Institute of Health, and the Health Resources and Service Administration. The study is examining the role of stigma and discrimination on quality of life for persons living with HIV/AIDS and on quality of work life for nurses caring for AIDS patients in Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, and Tanzania. He directs an institutional training grant from the NIH that provides support for pre- and postdoctoral nurse fellows in HIV prevention and care, as well.
