Mentorship, Global Health, and Momentum

For more than two decades, Lynn Matthews, MD, MPH, has worked at the intersection of HIV prevention, reproductive health, and global medicine. Now newly arrived at Yale, she is bringing her international research experience and passion for mentorship to New Haven. We spoke with her about what shaped her path and what she hopes to contribute here.

I didn’t come to college imagining I’d become an infectious disease physician. I actually wanted to be an art restorer because I loved chemistry and art history. But in the early ’90s, HIV was devastating communities, and I ended up taking a year away from coursework to volunteer at an HIV clinic in Miami. Seeing how HIV impacted women, men, children, and families in the community and how physicians could support people living with HIV through advocacy, science, and clinical care really changed the trajectory of my life.

I decided to go to medical school with the goal of training in internal medicine and infectious disease, and work across these areas to optimize care for a largely marginalized population of people living with HIV. Later, during my internal medicine residency, a rotation providing care in an HIV-endemic community in Rwanda confronted me with a question that wasn’t being answered anywhere at the time: What should people with HIV do if they want to have children? That sparked my interest in HIV prevention in the context of reproductive health—a thread that has shaped my work ever since, from South Africa and Uganda to the U.S. South.

Working in different health systems has taught me humility above all. You can’t walk into a new place—whether it’s urban South Africa or rural Alabama—with preconceived solutions. The most meaningful work I’ve been part of comes from slow, intentional collaboration with people who understand the context best: clinicians, community health workers, midwives, public health partners, advocates, and patients. And global health isn’t something that just happens outside the U.S. So many challenges in sub-Saharan Africa echo those in the U.S. South, including stigma, limited access, and structural barriers. Some of my research has involved adapting lessons across settings, like exploring how mobile-based HIV-testing strategies used widely in South Africa might translate to rural communities in Alabama.

Yale stood out because it’s a place that invests in physician–scientists. Yale also has an incredible infrastructure for global health and a strong community of HIV researchers, implementation scientists, and educators whose work focuses on social justice and community-informed care and really intersects with mine. I’m continuing my programs in Uganda, South Africa, and the U.S. South, but I’m also intentionally taking time to “marinate,” as I like to say—listening, observing, attending talks and seminars, meeting with people with shared interests, understanding local needs, and building collaborations organically rather than arriving with a fixed agenda.

Mentorship is one of the great joys of my career. I spend a significant portion of my time supporting medical students, residents, fellows, and early-career faculty to launch their own independent research careers. I currently have protected time thanks to an NIH K24 award specifically for mentoring. I try to help people identify their strengths, navigate the messy middle of work–life balance, and build confidence in systems that haven’t always been designed with them in mind. I primarily mentor women and people who are underrepresented in medicine, and a lot of my role is helping them chart a sustainable path, advocate for themselves, and stay rooted in why they wanted to do this work in the first place. To mentor well, I also have to be an active scientist—generating questions, sitting with data, writing, and pushing ideas forward with a team.

I stay inspired by the progress we’ve made. Life expectancy for people with HIV has increased by nearly 30 years, and long-acting injectable prevention tools—including twice-yearly PrEP products—could meaningfully change the epidemic’s trajectory if implemented well. This isn’t an easy moment in the field, but I believe deeply in the possibility of continued progress and in the importance of keeping the next generation engaged and supported.

I’m happiest when I’m moving—hiking, doing yoga, biking with my kids, or running with my dog—especially if I can be outside. I’ve loved experiencing real seasons again. And beyond the outdoors, I’m drawn to art, music, and good food, so New Haven will be a fun place to explore those passions.