February 23, 2026
MIND study collaborators attend 3rd annual meeting for child development research in Kenya
Investigators and administrators from multiple Kenyan and U.S. institutions who support the MIND study.
Dr. John Kinuthia, one of the Principal Investigators, used the opportunity of the meeting to showcase University of Washington’s extensive history of collaborative research in Kenya over the past four decades. Dr. Richard Lesiyampe (CEO, Kenyatta National Hospital) and Dr. Daniel Ojuka (Dean, University of Nairobi Health Sciences) attended the opening, where Professor Ruth Nduati outlined the history of research, training, mentorship and public health impact resulting from effective collaborations between UW and Kenyan institutions.
MIND is a remarkable partnership involving several investigators and administrators from UW/Global WACh, Kenyatta National Hospital, University of Nairobi, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Emory University, Fred Hutch, Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Makerere University who share knowledge and common resources to generate evidence on biological factors that may cause adverse birth and neurodevelopmental outcomes in young children exposed to HIV but are uninfected (CHEU).
At the one-day meeting, many collaborators gave short presentations on relevant pediatric neurodevelopment topics (such as autism in Kenya and research needs, application of a HIV-related neurocognitive screening tool) and individual updates on the three studies nested within MIND. Results from Project 1 will be presented by Global WACh’s Laurén Gómez at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) held from February 22-25 in Denver, CO.
In Project 2, which is evaluating the association of gut-microbiome and breast milk with infant outcomes, researchers found similar neurodevelopmental outcomes between CHEU and unexposed uninfected children (CHUU) at 24 and 36 months. This indicates that the bioactive components of breast milk—through their roles in promoting a healthy gut microbiome and strengthening the immune system—may mitigate early risks and help reduce developmental disparities between the cohorts.
In Project 3, which is evaluating cytomegalovirus-related maternal and infant immune activation through neurodevelopmental assessments on the two cohorts, researchers found that HIV exposure was not associated with infant cognition or EF touch (a battery of tasks that measures inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility) at 4 years of age. Professor Dalton Wamalwa (University of Nairobi) presented recent work from the Linda Kizazi cohort (part of Project 3) which demonstrated a relationship between early trajectories of head circumference and executive function at 4 years of age.
Collaborators participated in brainstorming sessions to find synergies with other UW and Kenya collaborative studies that involve many of the same MIND researchers, including studies focused on improving adolescent mental health and evaluating effects of air pollutants and heavy metals on child neurodevelopment. Several early-stage investigators presented studies – and researchers discussed new directions for future studies. During the past two years of MIND convenings, these discussions have resulted in several new grants for early-stage investigators.
Dr. Laura Justice from Ohio State University gave an outstanding keynote presentation on speech development in infants to close out the meeting. This stimulated good discussions on new directions to evaluate and optimize speech development in future studies.
We look forward to sharing future updates on their work.