Emily Barr, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, CNM, ACRN, FACNM, FAAN, assistant professor of research on the tenure track, joined Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston in January of 2022. Emily Barr grew up near Rochester, NY, and completed her bachelor’s in science in Communication with a focus on scientific writing and a minor in African-American studies at Cornell University. After working with infants and young children living with HIV in the early 90’s, she obtained her master’s in nursing at Yale University, where she specialized in pediatric chronic illness care. She began working as a PNP in pediatric and perinatal HIV research at the Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY in 1997, where she cared for women, children, and youth living with HIV and children with primary immunodeficiency disease. Dr. Barr became a certified nurse midwife through SUNY Stony Brook in 1999 and began leading the perinatal AIDS research program in Syracuse, NY.  She worked on the early pediatric HIV treatment studies through the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group and joined the team at the University of Colorado, Children’s Hospital Colorado’s HIV program as a PNP and Midwife in 2001, where she worked on many international HIV studies while continuing to provide care to people living with HIV. Dr. Barr managed and directed the HIV treatment and prevention, childhood vaccine, and the COVID-19 research programs in Colorado participating in multiple national and international clinical trials networks including the International Maternal, Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials group (IMPAACT), Adolescent Trials Network (ATN), Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS), the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) and the Coronavirus Prevention Network. Dr. Barr obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado College of Nursing (2021) in the Caring Science track with a concentration in Biobehavioral Sciences. Dr. Barr studies engagement in care in youth with HIV and breastfeeding/chestfeeding in pregnant and postpartum people with HIV, including the relational decision-making process. Dr. Barr also studies silver linings in healthcare and vaccine uptake with a focus on patient-provider trust and intellectual humility as they relate to decision-making. 

Dr. Barr was named an Associate Faculty member of the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics in September 2024, is a member of the Executive Editorial Board of the Journal of Medical Humanities, and is on the national board of directors for the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.

In 2025, Dr. Barr was named a Yale CARES Scholar (Comprehensive Advancement in Research Education & Training for Social Determinants of Health) and awarded the Robert Lanford Early-Stage Investigator Award by the Texas Developmental Center for AIDS Research. Dr. Barr was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Nurse Midwives (2024) and as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (2023). She received the Researcher/HIV Impact Award from the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (2022), and as a McGovern Center for Ethics and Humanities Writing Fellow, Dr. Barr has published several essays in the health humanities including in the journal AIDS (2024) and The Paris Review (2024).

Highlighted publications:

Barr EA. Vespers: A nursing origin story set in the dawn of the HIV pandemic. AIDS. 2024;38(6):925-927. 10.1097/QAD.0000000000003873

Barr EA, et al. Silver Linings: A principle-based concept analysis examining the emergence of positive changes that accompany adversity. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances. 2024;24(7):100243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnsa.2024.100243 

Barr EA, et al. Participant acceptability and clinician satisfaction of cognitive behavioural therapy and medication management algorithm compared with enhanced standard care for treatment of depression among youth with HIV. Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health. 2024:1-16. https://doi.org/10.2989/17280583.2024.2387632