Dear CFAR Colleagues,
On behalf of the UW/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), I am delighted to announce that our search process for a permanent Co-Director has resulted in the appointment of two new Co-Directors: Kenneth Mugwanya, MBChB, MS, PhD, who has been serving in an interim role, and Julie Dombrowski, MD, MPH, both effective January 1, 2024.
Kenneth and Julie bring complimentary areas of research and training expertise in terms of international and domestic HIV and STI research, prevention and treatment, implementation science and behavioral science, and mentoring early-stage investigators, as their bios below summarize.
Kenneth Mugwanya is an Associate Professor in the UW Departments of Global Health and Epidemiology. He conducts interdisciplinary research and collaborates with laboratory, behavioral, clinical and implementation science scholars from around the world. He led the key studies to quantify and interpret the risk and safety of oral TDF-based PrEP in African populations, demonstrating no substantial sexual risk compensation, limited kidney toxicity, and limited excretion of PrEP medications in breastmilk and infant absorption via breastfeeding. This work directly informed the WHO and other normative agencies in their PrEP guidelines and has advanced implementation of PrEP globally. His current research is broad and deep – clinical pharmacology to understand PrEP benefits in women and during pregnancy, implementation science to catalyze PrEP delivery widely in populations, and studies of HIV testing to link people efficiently to care. He was named one of the University of Washington School of Public Health’s 50 Changemakers for its 50th Anniversary.
Dr. Dombrowski’s research focuses on improving HIV & STI clinical and public health services for marginalized populations in the United States with a particular focus on novel models of HIV care. She has worked with sexual health clinics and health department HIV/STI programs throughout the U.S. on capacity building projects and research collaborations. She mentors students, post-doctoral trainees and junior faculty, and she is a primary care provider in the Madison & Max HIV Clinics in Seattle.
Please join me in congratulating Drs. Mugwanya and Dombrowski for their new roles within CFAR!
Sincerely,
Connie Celum, MD, MPH
Professor, Medicine and Global Health
Adjunct Professor, Epidemiology
Director, UW/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research
Director, International Clinical Research Center