Alexandra (Ally) Gago (she/her/hers) works as the Peer Health Education Specialist in the Office of Health Promotion, where she advises and mentors the Peer Health Educators. Ally earned her Master of Public Health in Health Communication and Promotion from the Boston University School of Public Health, before which she received a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s and Gender Studies from Wellesley College. As an undergraduate, she worked as a peer sexual health educator, which greatly influenced her public health philosophy and how she envisions community learning.

Prior to coming to UVA, she designed sexual and relationship violence prevention programming at Berklee College of Music and consulted for the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth. Ally’s research interests include sexual health education, LGBTQ+ health, bystander intervention, and health misinformation prevention. In her public health practice, she specializes in program design and implementation, media-based health communication, peer health education, and mixed-methods research.