Norman Chong is a public health scholar at the Center of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA), Universiti Malaya. Norman trained in clinical medicine at Kursk State Medical University, Russia, and in infectious diseases and public health research at Universiti Malaya. Norman is deeply interested in leveraging advanced mathematical modeling to understand and address the associations between social determinants of health and health outcomes across the life span, particularly in mitigating the deleterious effects of stigma on health outcomes at the individual, community, and structural levels. Norman is also a Cooper HIV/AIDS Research Training (CHART) 2024/2025 fellow at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales. Norman's current work involves identifying the pathways in which the HIV stigma mechanisms impact aging-related health outcomes as well as the uptake of non-communicable disease (NCD) and mental health care services among the aging cohort of people with HIV.
Norman also aims to develop interventions that bolster the resilience of minoritized groups. Norman has been pushing the dial on forefronting strength-based and empowerment approaches to build capacity as stigma changemakers among key affected populations and other allies. Norman started a young people-led initiative in Malaysia for the HIV response (https://www.weaskthewhy.com.my) as the recipient of the International AIDS Society Youth Hub Seed Grant. Through the initiative, they have trained 30 young leaders, most of whom were young people with and affected by HIV, to design sustainable and people-powered HIV programs, including projects that leverage technology and social media. Norman also explores the role of HIV activism in stigma-charged environments, developing methods for identifying HIV activists among clinicians, leveraging these groups in capacity-building to reduce HIV-related stigma, and narrowing the disparities in the HIV response.
