Angela Walter.

Angela Wangari Walter, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S.W.

Associate Professor

College
Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences
Department
Public Health
Phone
978-934-5374
Fax
978-934-3012
Office
O'Leary Library, Room 540-K
Email
angela_walter@uml.edu
Links

Expertise

Developing and implementing interventions that promote healthy lifestyle behaviors to enhance health and well-being.

Research Interests

Current focus areas: Mental health, alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, cancer survivorship, and women’s reproductive health.

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): Social Policy - Behavioral Health, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
  • Master of Public Health (MPH): Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health - Boston, Massachusetts
  • Master of Social Work (MSW): Macro Social Work Practice, Boston University School of Social Work - Boston, Massachusetts
  • Bachelor of Science (BS): Health Policy and Management, Providence College - Providence, Rhode Island

Biosketch

Angela Wangari Walter, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S.W., is a behavioral health services researcher and implementation scientist dedicated to improving population health outcomes and advancing health equity. Prof. Walter’s community-engaged and clinical translational research focuses on developing and implementing culturally grounded, evidence-based interventions for individuals with alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use (ATOD) disorders and co-occurring conditions such as mental illness, HIV/AIDS, and cancer.

A recipient of the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, Professor Walter’s work is co-creating evidence-based and culturally grounded multicomponent interventions for the assessment and treatment of alcohol and tobacco use, to reduce the cancer burden and improve cancer survivorship outcomes in Kenya and other African nations.

Prof. Walter’s work has examined the implementation of tobacco treatment for patients diagnosed with cancer in a large multisite trial within the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). Other research has focused on enhancing care and treatment for women with co-occurring substance use and mental disorders, as well as the implementation of bundled interventions to improve care, treatment, and support for Black women living with HIV. Her community-engaged research (CEnR) has contributed to understanding the relationships between social determinants of health and wellbeing, and the impact of culturally relevant and integrated care for adults living with co-occurring substance use and mental illness.

Prof. Walter serves as research faculty in the Cancer Population Health Sciences (CPHS) Program in the UMass Cancer Center, UMass Chan Medical School, and as core faculty of the Health Promotion and Resiliency Intervention Research (HPRIR) Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a nationally recognized scholar, Prof Walter is actively engaged in local, national, and global efforts advancing health, holds multiple leadership positions in the community as well as with the American Public Health Association (APHA).

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Fulbright Scholar (2025-2026) - Scholarship/Research – The Fulbright Scholar Program
  • 30 Inspiring & Impactful Alumni (2020) - Health Career Connection
  • Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching (2018), Teaching - Department of Public Health, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Community Research Innovative Scholar (2017), Scholarship/Research - University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science Institute

Selected Publications

  • Walter AW, Rocco M, Scott JC, Carhee A, Ayafor V, Goodwin R, Lewis-Chery SA, Downes A, Spencer LY, Martinez LS. Beyond Survival: Harnessing Sustainability Frameworks to Assess and Support Programs Implementing Bundled Interventions for Black Women With HIV. Am J Public Health. 2025 Apr;115(S1):S28-S37. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2024.307790. PubMed PMID: 40138648; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11947485.
  • Walter AW, Mohan MP, Zhang X, Rocco M, Rajabiun S, Cabral HJ, Chen CA, Jennings E, Dugas JN, Dantas T, Scott JC, Downes A, Sprague Martinez LS. Organizational readiness to implement bundled interventions to increase HIV linkage and retention in care and treatment: results from the Black Women First (BWF) initiative. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Oct 13;24(1):1226. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-11568-x. PubMed PMID: 39396967; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11472514.
  • Walter, AW, Lee JW, Streck JM, Gareen IG, Kircher SM, Herman BA, Carlos RC, Kumar SK, Mayer I, Saba NF, Fenske TS, Neal JW, Atkins MB, Hodi FS, Kyriakopoulos CE, Tempany-Afdhal CM, Shanafelt TD, Wagner LI, Land S, Ostroff JS, Park ER. (2023). The effect of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on smoking status, quit attempts, and receipt of cessation support among adults with cancer: Results from nine ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (EA) trials. Cancer. 2023
  • Goshe BM, Rasmussen AW, Wagner LI, Sicks JD, Gareen IF, Carlos RC, Herman BA, Walter, AW, Regan S, Levy DE, Mahon I, Muzikansky A, Neil JM, Lui M, Dilip D, Malloy L, Gonzalez I, Finkelstein-Fox L, McCann C, Perez E, Ostroff JS, Park ER. Study protocol for a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation trial testing virtual tobacco treatment in oncology practices [Smokefree Support Study 2.0]. BMC Public Health. 2022 (22),1359.
  • Walter, AW, Morocho, C. HIV related knowledge, HIV testing decision-making, and perceptions of alcohol use as a risk factor for HIV among Black and African American women. (2021). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. (18), 4535.
  • Walter, AW, Julce, C, Sidduri, N, Yinusa-Nyahkoon, L, Howard, J, Reichert, M, Bickmore, T, Jack, BW (2020). Study protocol for the implementation of the Gabby Preconception Care System - an evidence-based, health information technology intervention for Black and African American women. BMC health services research,20(1) 889.
  • Walter, AW, Morocho, C, Chassler, D, Sousa, J, De Jesús, D, Longworth-Reed, L, Stewart, E, Guzman, M, Sostre, J, Linsenmeyer, A, Lundgren, L (2019). Evaluating culturally and linguistically integrated care for Latinx adults with mental and substance use disorders. Ethnicity & health, 1-13.
  • Walter, AW, Yuan, Y, Cesar, M, Thekkedath, R (2018). Facilitators and barriers to family engagement and retention of young children in mental health care: A qualitative study of caregivers’ perspectives. Social Work in Mental Health,17(2).
  • Walter, AW, Morocho, C, King, L, Bartlett, J, Kelsey, D, DeSousa, M, Biesecker, G, Punnett, L (2018). Preventing Opioid Use Disorders among Fishing Industry Workers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,15(4).
  • Walter, AW, Sprague Martinez, L, Lopez, LM (2018). Mental health care in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) era: Harnessing the power of communities (3 pp. 314-327). Routledge
  • Walter, AW, Cheng, DM, Lloyd-Travaglini, CA, Samet, JH, Bernstein, J, Saitz, R (2016). Are decreases in drug use risk associated with reductions in HIV sex risk behaviors among adults in an urban hospital primary care setting? Preventive Medicine Reports,4 410-416.
  • Walter, AW, Yvonne, R, Robbie, T, Kress, H, Morningstar, B, MacArthur, B, Daniels, A (2016). Leadership matters: How hidden biases perpetuate institutional racism in organizations. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance,4(3) 213-221.
  • Walter, AW, Lundgren, L, Umez-Eronini, A, Ritter, GA (2016). Alcohol use and HIV testing in a national sample of women. AIDS and Behavior,20(1) 84-96

Research Currently in Progress

  • Enhancing behavioral health research and teaching capacity in Kenya. Through her Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, this community-engaged and capacity-building project is addressing alcohol and tobacco use among adults who have been diagnosed with cancer, and co-developing curricula to enhance a workforce trained in behavioral health. Dr. Walter is collaborating with cancer survivors and health care providers in oncology and behavioral health (i.e., clinicians, nurses, social workers, and community health promoters) to co-create culturally grounded, solutions-focused, and sustainable evidence-based multicomponent interventions and implementation strategies with global impact. This project will enhance the collective capacity of researchers, institutions, and community partners; elevate a nursing workforce trained in behavioral health; and ultimately improve cancer survivorship outcomes.
  • Adapting a multicomponent intervention to improve care and treatment for women with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. This project is adapting an efficacious multi-component team-based intervention for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder (COD) to meet the unique needs of women with COD. This research will enhance engagement in care and improve behavioral health and social outcomes for women with COD. Collaborators: Walter, A.W., and Gaba A.
  • Organizational readiness and engagement of community oncology practices in implementing tobacco use assessment and treatment. The project examines organizational contexts that influence the adoption of tobacco use assessment and treatment interventions; and identifies strategies to facilitate implementation of evidence-based tobacco treatment interventions in community cancer care settings. Collaborators: Walter, A.W., Park, E.R. and Ostroff, J.S.