Kate LeMasters, PhD
Assistant Professor, Medicine-Internal Medicine

Professional Titles

• Assistant Professor

Recognition & Awards

• Lifespan/Brown Criminal Justice Research Program on Substance Use and HIV Scholar, NIDA (2021)

Research Interests

Publications

• McCauley EJ, LeMasters K, Behne MF, Brinkley-Rubinstein L. A Call to Action to Public Health Institutions and Teaching to Incorporate Mass Incarceration as a Sociostructural Determinant of Health. Public Health Rep. 2023 Sep-Oct;138(5):711-714. PubMed PMID: 36062356
• LeMasters K, Renson A, Zalla L, Martin CL, Edwards JK. Understanding the Accumulation of Health-Related Inequities Over the Life Course Using the Mean Cumulative Count. Am J Epidemiol. 2023 Sep 1;192(9):1425-1431. PubMed PMID: 37218618
• LeMasters K, Delamater P, Brinkley-Rubinstein L, Edwards JK, Robinson WR, Pence B. Mass probation: Temporal and geographic correlation of county-level probation rates & mental health in North Carolina. SSM Ment Health. 2023 Dec;3. PubMed PMID: 36936811
• LeMasters K, Krajewski T, Nowotny K, Oser C, Mollan K, Brinkley-Rubinstein L. Context specific HIV risk: evidence from screening into the southern pre-exposure prophylaxis study (SPECS). AIDS Care. 2023 Apr;35(4):474-479. PubMed PMID: 35377251
• LeMasters, K., Behne, M.F., Peterson, M., Lao, L., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. Suicide Rates in State Prisons Before and During COVID-19: Highlighting Gaps in Data. PLOS ONE 18(5): e0285729. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285729
• LeMasters, K., Seide, K., Benson, A., Corsi, C., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L., Krajewski, T., Nowotny, K. Collateral consequences of COVID-19 for people on probation and parole. Health and Justice. 2023, 11:18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40352-023-00221-0
• Uhrig Castonguay, B., LeMasters, K., Corsi, C., Batty, E., Krajewski, T., Travis, M., Waleed, C., Oser, C., Nowotny, K., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. Retention Strategies in the First Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Observational Cohort among those on Community Supervision in the South: Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Pandemic. PLOS ONE 18(4): e0283621. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283621
• LeMasters K, Krajewski T, Dong K, Brinkley-Rubinstein L. Documenting Competing Needs to Well-Being Among Those on Community Supervision in the South. J Correct Health Care. 2023 Dec 27. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 38150566
• Chung EO, Scherer E, LeMasters K, Bates L, Hagaman A, Staley BS, Zalla LC, Sikander S, Maselko J. Maternal adverse childhood experiences on child growth and development in rural Pakistan: An observational cohort study. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2023;3(10):e0001669. PubMed PMID: 37878564
• Rockey N, Cervantes L, LeMasters K, Rizzolo K. Challenging Health Inequities in Incarceration: a Call for Equitable Care for Kidney Disease and Hypertension. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2023 Dec;25(12):437-445. PubMed PMID: 37773248
• LeMasters K, Behne MF, Lao J, Peterson M, Brinkley-Rubinstein L. Suicides in state prisons in the United States: Highlighting gaps in data. PLoS One. 2023;18(5):e0285729. PubMed PMID: 37256862
• LeMasters K, Renson A, Zalla L, Martin CL, Edwards JK. Understanding the Accumulation of Health-Related Inequities Over the Life Course Using the Mean Cumulative Count. Am J Epidemiol. 2023 Sep 1;192(9):1425-1431. PubMed PMID: 37218618
• Uhrig Castonguay BJ, LeMasters K, Corsi C, Batty EJ, Krajewski TJ, Travis M, Waleed C, Oser CB, Nowotny KM, Brinkley-Rubinstein L. Retention strategies among those on community supervision in the South: Lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One. 2023;18(4):e0283621. PubMed PMID: 37018225
• LeMasters K, Benson A, Corsi C, Krajewski T, Seide K, Brinkley-Rubinstein L, Nowotny K. Collateral consequences of COVID-19 for people on probation and parole. Health Justice. 2023 Mar 30;11(1):18. PubMed PMID: 36995422
• LeMasters K, Delamater P, Brinkley-Rubinstein L, Edwards JK, Robinson WR, Pence B. Mass probation: Temporal and geographic correlation of county-level probation rates & mental health in North Carolina. SSM Ment Health. 2023 Dec;3. PubMed PMID: 36936811
• LeMasters K, Krajewski T, Nowotny K, Oser C, Mollan K, Brinkley-Rubinstein L. Context specific HIV risk: evidence from screening into the southern pre-exposure prophylaxis study (SPECS). AIDS Care. 2023 Apr;35(4):474-479. PubMed PMID: 35377251
• McCauley EJ, LeMasters K, Behne MF, Brinkley-Rubinstein L. A Call to Action to Public Health Institutions and Teaching to Incorporate Mass Incarceration as a Sociostructural Determinant of Health. Public Health Rep. 2023 Sep-Oct;138(5):711-714. PubMed PMID: 36062356
• Shapiro N, Bhatia N, LeMasters K, Smith R, Armstrong A. The Complexity of “Natural” Deaths Behind Bars. Academic Forensic Pathology. 2023;13(3-4):90-91. doi:10.1177/19253621231211952
• LeMasters, K., Camp, H., Benson, A., Corsi, C., Cullins, Z., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. “Nothing but a rope to hang yourself:” The toll of mass supervision on mental well-being, Social Science and Medicine - Mental Health. 2023, 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2023.100269.
• Stoner MCD, Bhushan NL, Maragh-Bass AC, Mitchell JT, Riggins L, Walker M, LeMasters K, Reese B, Dearing A, Debnam S, Golin C, Lightfoot AF, Pettifor A. Using Participatory Methods to Assess PrEP Interest and Uptake Among Young People Living in the Southeastern US: A Mixed Methods Assessment. AIDS Behav. 2022 May;26(5):1672-1683. PubMed PMID: 34724592
• LeMasters K, Brinkley-Rubinstein L, Maner M, Peterson M, Nowotny K, Bailey Z. Carceral epidemiology: mass incarceration and structural racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Public Health. 2022 Mar;7(3):e287-e290. PubMed PMID: 35247354
• LeMasters K, Cox ME, Fliss M, Seibert J, Brown C, Proescholdbell S. Mental health emergency department visits: An exploration of case definitions in North Carolina. Am J Emerg Med. 2022 Jul;57:103-106. PubMed PMID: 35550927
• LeMasters K, Renson A, Edwards JK, Robinson WR, Brinkley-Rubinstein L, Delamater P, Pence B. Inequities in life course criminal legal system sanctions: measuring cumulative involvement. Ann Epidemiol. 2022 Dec;76:83-90. PubMed PMID: 36273701
• LeMasters K, Costenbader E, Martinez A, Speizer IS, Igras S. Men's social networks, social norms, & family planning in Benin. Glob Public Health. 2022 Aug;17(8):1611-1625. PubMed PMID: 34032186
• Maragh-Bass AC, LeMasters K, Sanders T, Harding C, Dearing A, Purcell R, Mitchell JT, Stoner MC, Bhushan N, Walker M, Riggins L, Golin C, Pettifor A, Lightfoot A. Lessons Learned in Centering Youth Voices in HIV Prevention: The Adolescent Health Working Group. Prog Community Health Partnersh. 2022;16(4):551-561. PubMed PMID: 36533504
• LeMasters K, Maragh-Bass A, Stoner M, Bhushan N, Mitchell J, Riggins L, Lightfoot A. Lessons Learned From Conducting Community-Based Research on HIV Prevention With Youth During COVID-19. J Particip Res Methods. 2022;3(3-themed Special Issue). PubMed PMID: 36969796
• LeMasters, K., Ranapurwala, S., Maner, M., Nowotny, K., Peterson, M., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. COVID- 19 Community Spread and Consequences for Prison Case Rates. PLOS ONE 17(4): e0266772. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266772
• Kulisewa, K., Dussault, J., Bengtson, A., Gaynes, B., Hosseinipour M., Go, V., Kutengule, A., LeMasters, K., Meltzer-Brody, S., Midiani, D., Mphonda, S., Udedi, M. Pence, B., The Feasibility and Acceptability of a Task-Shifted Intervention for Perinatal Depression among Women Living with HIV in Malawi: A Qualitative Analysis. BMC Psychiatry 22, 833 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-04476-z
• Hagaman, A., Bates, L., Atif, N., Chung, E., LeMasters, K., Rahman, A., Saqib, K., Sikander, S., Maselko, J. Suicide ideation within and outside the perinatal period: An exploration of interpersonal factors from a maternal cohort in rural Pakistan to improve intervention targeting. Archives of Suicide Research. doi: 10.1080/13811118.2022.2154727
• Nowotny, K., Metheny, H. LeMasters, K., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. Age and COVID-19 Mortality in the United States: A Comparison of the Prison and General Population. International Journal of Prisoner Health. Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-08-2021-0069
• Cowan, K. N., Peterson, M., LeMasters, K., & Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. (2022). Overlapping Crises: Climate Disaster Susceptibility and Incarceration. In International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Vol. 19, Issue 12). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127431
• Ikram, N., Frost, A., LeMasters, K., Hagaman, A., Baranov, V., Gallis, J., Sikander, S., Scherer, E., Maselko, J. Adverse Childhood Experiences and Implications of Perceived Stress, Anxiety, and Cortisol Among Women in Pakistan. Adverse childhood experiences and implications of perceived stress, anxiety and cortisol among women in Pakistan: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2022;12(4):e052280. Published 2022 Apr 15. https://doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052280
• Segule, M., LeMasters, K., Peterson, M., Behne, M., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. Incarcerated workers: overlooked as essential workers. BMC Public Health 22, 506 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022- 12886-7
• Maner, M., LeMasters, K., Lao, J., Cowell, M., Nowotny, K., Cloud, D., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. COVID- 19 in Corrections: Quarantine of Incarcerated People. PLOS ONE 16(10): e0257842. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257842
• Hagaman A, LeMasters K, Zivich PN, Sikander S, Bates LM, Bhalotra S, Chung EO, Zaidi A, Maselko J. Longitudinal effects of perinatal social support on maternal depression: a marginal structural modelling approach. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2021 Oct;75(10):936-943. PubMed PMID: 33712512
• LeMasters K, Atkins K, Oloonabadi SA, Munn T, Eng E, Lightfoot AF. How Can We PrEP? Exploring Black MSM's Experiences With Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Through Photovoice. AIDS Educ Prev. 2021 Feb;33(1):16-32. PubMed PMID: 33617322
• LeMasters K., Bledsoe, S., Brooks, J., Chavis, S., Little, E., Pevia, K., Daniel, L., Jordan, K., Schindler, A., Lightfoot, A., The MI-PHOTOS Project. The MI-PHOTOS Project: Understanding the Health and Wellbeing of Rural Historically Marginalized Mothers Through Photovoice. Health Education & Behavior. December 2021. doi:10.1177/10901981211057095
• LeMasters, K., Oser, C., Cowell, M., Mollan, K., Nowotny, K., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. Longitudinal Pre- Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Acceptability, Initiation, and Adherence Among Criminal Justice-Involved Adults in the United States: The Southern PrEP Cohort Study (SPECS) Protocol. BMJ Open 2021; 11:e047340. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047340
• LeMasters, K., Costenbader, E., Martinez, A., Speizer, I. Igras, S., The Influence of Men’s Social Networks and Social Norms on Family Planning in Benin. Global Public Health. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2021.1933125
• LeMasters, K., Bates, L., Chung, E., Gallis, J., Hagaman, A., Scherer, E., Sikander, S., Staley, B., Zalla, L., Zivich, P., Maselko, J. Adverse Childhood Experiences and Maternal Depression in Rural Pakistan. BMC Public Health 21, 400 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10409-4
• Brinkley-Rubinstein L, LeMasters K, Nguyen P, Nowotny K, Cloud D, et al. (2021) The association between intersystem prison transfers and COVID-19 incidence in a state prison system. PLOS ONE 16(8): e0256185. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256185
• Sharif, M., Zaidi, A., Waqas, A., Malik, A., Hagaman, A., Maselko, J., LeMasters, K., Liaqat, R., Bilal, S., Bibi, T., Ahmad, I., Sikander, S., Rahman, A. (2021) Psychometric validation of the Multidimensional scale of perceived social support during pregnancy in rural Pakistan. Frontiers in Psychology. 12:601563. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.601563.
• Maselko J, Sikander S, Turner EL, Bates LM, Ahmad I, Atif N, Baranov V, Bhalotra S, Bibi A, Bibi T, Bilal S, Biroli P, Chung E, Gallis JA, Hagaman A, Jamil A, LeMasters K, O'Donnell K, Scherer E, Sharif M, Waqas A, Zaidi A, Zulfiqar S, Rahman A. Effectiveness of a peer-delivered, psychosocial intervention on maternal depression and child development at 3 years postnatal: a cluster randomised trial in Pakistan. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020 Sep;7(9):775-787. PubMed PMID: 32828167
• Hagaman AK, Baranov V, Chung E, LeMasters K, Andrabi N, Bates LM, Rahman A, Sikander S, Turner E, Maselko J. Association of maternal depression and home adversities with infant hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis biomarkers in rural Pakistan. J Affect Disord. 2020 Nov 1;276:592-599. PubMed PMID: 32871690
• Chung EO, Hagaman A, LeMasters K, Andrabi N, Baranov V, Bates LM, Gallis JA, O'Donnell K, Rahman A, Sikander S, Turner EL, Maselko J. The contribution of grandmother involvement to child growth and development: an observational study in rural Pakistan. BMJ Glob Health. 2020 Aug;5(8). PubMed PMID: 32784209
• LeMasters, K., McCauley, E., Nowotny, K. Brinkley-Rubinstein, L. COVID-19 cases and testing in 53 prison systems. Health Justice 8(24). (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40352-020-00125-3
• LeMasters, K., Dussault, J., Barrington, C., Bengtson, A., Gaynes, B., Go., V., Hosseinipour M., Kulisewa, K., Kutengule, A., Meltzer-Brody, S., Midiani, D., Mphonda, S., Pence, B., Udedi, M. "Pain in my heart": Understanding perinatal depression among women living with HIV in Malawi. PLOS ONE 15(6): e0227935. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227935
• LeMasters, K., Andrabi, N., Zalla, L., Hagaman, A., Chung, E., Gallis, J., Turner, E., Bhalotra, S., Sikander, S., Maselko, J. Maternal depression in rural Pakistan: the protective associations with cultural postpartum practices. BMC Public Health 20, 68 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-8176-0
• LeMasters K, Baber Wallis A, Chereches R, Gichane M, Tehei C, Varga A, Tumlinson K. Pregnancy experiences of women in rural Romania: understanding ethnic and socioeconomic disparities. Cult Health Sex. 2019 Mar;21(3):249-262. PubMed PMID: 29764305
• Atif, N., Bibi, A., Nisar, A., Zulfiqar, S., Ahmed, I., LeMasters, K., Hagaman, A., Sikander, S., Maselko, J., Rahman, A. (2019). Delivering maternal mental health through peer volunteers: a 5-year report. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 13(1), 62. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-019-0318-3
• Costenbader E, Zissette S, Martinez A, LeMasters K, Dagadu NA, Deepan P, et al. (2019) Getting to intent: Are social norms influencing intentions to use modern contraception in the DRC? PLoS ONE 14(7): e0219617. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219617
• Tumlinson, K., Gichane, M. W., Curtis, S. L., & LeMasters, K. (2019). Understanding healthcare provider absenteeism in Kenya: a qualitative analysis. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 660. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4435-0