Dr. Vinita Sharma is a through and through public health professional. Her academic training, work experience and service have all revolved around public health issues. She completed Bachelors in Public Health from Nobel College in Nepal, Masters of Public Health from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel and PhD in Public Health from University of South Florida. She then completed a two-year NIDA Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Department of Epidemiology, University of Florida before joining Boise State University in 2022. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) and is Certified in Public Health (CPH).

Vinita teaches health education and promotion classes, along with prevention and intervention designs. Her research focuses on the intersections of substance use, HIV and mental health. This is informed by her prior research and work experiences. For example, she worked as a Program Officer, supporting national response to HIV/AIDS and improving reproductive health through USAID-funded Saath-Saath Project in Nepal. Prior to that, she worked as a national consultant with UNAIDS-Nepal and the national focal point for Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS. She also completed an internship at the only Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) program in the country at that time, during which, she assessed the quality of life and coping strategies used by the clients of the clinic. She has also worked as principal investigator and co-investigator in other public health projects (for example- post-disaster health outcomes, nutrition, communicable diseases, including COVID-19) in countries such as Israel, Ecuador and Costa-Rica.

Vinita has previously taught and mentored undergraduate, graduate and predoctoral public health students in Nepal and the U.S. She is passionate about training the next generation of public health students who will become public health leaders at the local, national and global settings.