Dr. Charisse Ahmed is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing Department of Family Health Care Nursing. Her research focuses on global HIV prevention and treatment, mental health, gender-based violence, and implementation science, with a particular emphasis on syndemic health disparities. She specializes in developing and adapting task-shifting models that train community health workers to deliver mental health and HIV interventions in resource-limited settings. Her expertise is shaped by her interdisciplinary training in nursing, public health, and health policy, as well as her engagement in community-based research and advocacy in both the U.S. and Zambia.

She completed her PhD in Nursing Science at the University of Pennsylvania and was a National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) scholar at UCLA, where she received advanced training in health systems science, health policy, and community-partnered research. She also trained as a T32 Postdoctoral Fellow in Biobehavioral Research for Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, focusing on HIV prevention, mental health integration, and health equity.

Dr. Ahmed also serves as a Research Fellow at the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research (SAIPAR), supporting policy translation and health system reform in Zambia. She provides research and funding support as a board member of Ikhaya (A Placed Called Home), a woman-led Zambian NGO addressing gender-based violence (GBV) among children and adolescents. Through this role, she supports research design, implementation, and grant writing for Ikhaya.

Dr. Ahmed is dedicated to health equity and advocacy. She is the co-founder of Mind Changers-Pals4Life (MCP4L), a mental health advocacy and research training group in Zambia. With MCP4L and local church partners, she co-designed Mpata Yathu, a trauma-informed, church-based mental health intervention for adolescent girls and young women exposed to GBV. The intervention addresses the syndemic of HIV, mental health, and GBV through structured referral pathways and lay-delivered problem-solving therapy. Her work is also informed by her long-standing involvement in HIV advocacy, including serving as a Youth Ambassador for Advocates for Youth and the National Minority AIDS Council.