Carrie Foote is a Professor of Sociology whose work examines HIV stigma, HIV and hepatitis C criminalization, health policy, and the social dimensions of health and illness. She teaches courses in medical sociology, mental illness, drugs and society, and qualitative research methods.

Foote’s current research includes a collaboration with the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law examining the enforcement and consequences of Indiana’s HIV-related criminal laws. Her scholarship also includes the first empirical study of how Indiana’s hepatitis C criminalization laws have been enforced. She brings this expertise to her work as co-founder and chair of the HIV Modernization Movement–Indiana, a statewide coalition that partners with people living with HIV, advocates, service providers, researchers, public-health professionals, and policymakers to promote laws grounded in current science.

Her public-health work has included helping advance the global HIV Undetectable = Untransmittable, or U=U, campaign through the Prevention Access Campaign and working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Indiana Department of Health during the HIV outbreak among people who inject drugs in Scott County, Indiana.

Foote is also recognized for high-impact service-learning practices that engage students with community organizations addressing HIV, substance use, homelessness, food insecurity, disability, and other pressing social and public-health issues. Her teaching and civic engagement have been recognized through academic and community awards, grants, media coverage, and honors from advocacy organizations, community partners, professional peers, and state legislators.

Foote earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2002 and joined IU’s Indianapolis campus that same year. She has lived with HIV since 1988, and is cured of Hepatitis C. She brings scholarly expertise, community engagement, and lived experience to her research, teaching, and public scholarship.

  • 2002; University of Colorado at Boulder (Sociology) Ph.D.
  • 1994; Metropolitan State College of Denver, Colorado (Sociology) B.A.

  • SOCR 100 Introduction Sociology
  • SOCR 355 Social Theory
  • SOCR 385 AIDS and Society
  • SOCR410 Drugs, Alcohol and Society
  • SOCR 485 Sociology of Mental Illness
  • SOCS 659 Qualitative Research Methods

Select Recent Publications.

  • No Risk, Severe Consequence: Hepatitis C Criminalization in Indiana Involves Only Non-Transmissible Exposures. Published online Sept 25 2026. AIDS and Behavior.Available here.
  • Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Indiana: Body Fluid/Waste Enhancement Laws. The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, California. Available here.
  • 2024 Cisneros, N., Foote, C., and Schlebecker, P., et al. (2024). HIV Criminalization in Indiana: Evaluation of Transmission Risk. The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, Cal. Available here.
  • Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Indiana: Donation Laws. The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles. Available here.

For Complete Research Profile, click below.