Awards

December 5, 2025

Researchers receive major grant to study impact of HIV/ART exposure on child neurodevelopment

Categories: Awards, HIV and Co-Infections, Implementation Science, Research

Multiple Principal Investigators Grace John-Stewart, Dalton Wamalwa, Kathleen Powis, and Andrew Prendergast leading the newly awarded U19 RISE Project

An international research team with Global WACh and partners in the U.S., Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Botswana received a five-year long $36 million dollar grant from the National Institute of Health to better understand how HIV or antiretroviral (ART) exposure in utero influences child health outcomes, including neurodevelopment.

“Researching Interventions and Implementation Strategies to Evaluate the Health and Development of Children Affected by HIV (RISE)” is a large NIH-funded U19 Program to evaluate tools for screening children for neurodevelopmental delays and to identify interventions to optimize neurodevelopment among children with and without in utero HIV/ART exposure. The RISE Program includes three distinct research Projects and three Cores that provide shared resources, focusing on scientific administrative support, data management and analysis, and dissemination and stakeholder engagement, to facilitate the Projects.
(more…)

December 4, 2025

Dr. Keshet Ronen receives award to assess inclusion in digital community health services in Kenya

Categories: Awards, mHealth, Research

Congratulations to Dr. Keshet Ronen, Assistant Professor in Global Health, for receiving funding for “Empowering Women through Digital Connectivity: Advancing Community Health in Kenya” that leverages the ongoing CHV-NEO (Community-based digital communication to support neonatal health) trial activities. CHV-NEO uses text messaging, integrated into Kenya’s national electronic community health information system (eCHIS), to remotely connect mothers of newborns with community health workers for enhanced care during the high-risk neonatal period. CHV-NEO has the potential to reduce neonatal mortality and improve coverage of community-based perinatal preventative care in medically underserved communities in Kenya. (more…)

December 2, 2025

Global WACh Co-Director Anjuli Wagner nominated for the 2025 UW Minority Faculty Mentoring Award

Categories: Awards

Congratulations to Dr. Anjuli Wagner, Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health and Global WACh Co-Director, for being nominated for the UW School of Medicine’s Committee on Minority Faculty Advancement (CMFA) Minority Faculty Mentoring Award.

This award recognizes faculty who demonstrate an outstanding commitment to mentoring faculty from communities underrepresented in medicine and science. Its purpose is to celebrate someone who fosters inclusive professional growth and improves diversity, equity, and representation within the University of Washington School of Medicine.
(more…)

November 17, 2025

Dr. Anna Larsen receives NIH Research Scientist Development Award to develop a mobile health parenting support intervention aimed at improving father-child mental health in Kenya

Categories: Awards, Mental Health, mHealth, Research

Congratulations Dr. Anna Larsen (Acting Assistant Professor, UW Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences) for receiving a National Institute of Health Research Scientist Development Award to fund “Improving fathers’ mental health, parenting, and familial engagement through an mHealth intervention in Kenya.” This five-year award supports an intensive, mentored research career development experience contributing to Dr. Larsen’s path to become an independent researcher.

This study addresses high mental health burden among men in Africa and aims to identify mental health needs, parenting challenges, and preferences for mobile health (mHealth) approaches among Kenyan fathers in a mixed methods approach. Fathers play a pivotal role in early child health development with impact on mental, social, and financial well-being throughout a child’s lifespan. One in ten fathers experience severe mental health challenges due to the stressors of parenting. Fathers’ poor mental health adversely impacts their relationships with partners, parenting behaviors and families’ health and safety, yet mental health services for fathers are scarce. (more…)

November 14, 2025

Dr. Arianna Means receives award to support facilities strengthen organizational culture of learning and improvement to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality

Categories: Awards, Gut Health and Child Survival, Implementation Science, Research

Principal Investigator Dr. Arianna Means; Co-Principal Investigators, Dr. John Kinuthia and Dr. Unger; Research Scientist Dr. Sarah Hicks

Congratulations to Dr. Arianna Means (Associate Professor, Global Health) for receiving a National Institutes of Health award for the AMANI (Accelerating Maternal And Neonatal survIval) trial that will test a practice facilitation package (of training materials, tools, and other resources) that could help stakeholders better understand the circumstances surrounding maternal and perinatal deaths, leading to improved quality of care and reduced mortality among mothers and infants. Study collaborators include Dr. John Kinuthia (Kenyatta National Hospital), Dr. Jennifer Unger (Brown University), and Dr. Sarah Hicks (Research Scientist, Global WACh).

AMANI builds on prior research identifying critical issues contributing to neonatal deaths during health facility delivery and identifying factors influencing guideline adherence, which led to the development of a practice facilitation package designed to strengthen facilities’ capacity to address care quality and implementation gaps. (more…)

November 13, 2025

Dr. Dickens Onyango receives Fogarty Emerging Global Leader Award to support research career development in TB prevention among people living with HIV

Categories: Awards, HIV and Co-Infections, Research, Youth

Congratulations to Dr. Dickens Onyango (Deputy Director of Medical Services, Kisumu County Health Department and visiting research scientist at Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya) for receiving a National Institute of Health Fogarty Emerging Global Leader Award for “Enhancing Adherence and Completion of the Three-Month Isoniazid with Rifapentine (3HP) Tuberculosis Preventive Therapy Regimen Through Biomarker-Guided Adherence Counselling (ACT-TPT).” Collaborating institutions include the Kisumu County Department of Health, Kenyatta National Hospital, and University of Washington.

The award supports an intensive, mentored research career development experience that will allow Dr. Onyango to further develop and expand skills in qualitative research, human-centered design, randomized controlled trials, and advanced implementation science methods to evaluate multicomponent interventions while growing in his career in tuberculosis (TB) prevention among people living with HIV (PLHIV). Click here to watch Dr. Onyango’s ‘Breakfast with WACh’ lecture from March 2025 that summarizes prior research that this project builds upon. (more…)

October 27, 2025

Dr. Irene Njuguna and Dr. Grace John-Stewart lead new study on the effects of HIV and environmental exposures on pediatric neurodevelopmental outcomes

Categories: Awards, HIV and Co-Infections, Research

The population of children who are HIV-exposed but uninfected (CHEU) is growing, and the majority live in Eastern and Southern Africa where exposure to environmental toxins (lead, heavy metals, and pesticides) is high. Understanding the combined impact of HIV and environmental exposures on child health outcomes is critical to identify approaches to mitigate risks and provide treatment for CHEU.

Global WACh Co-Directors, Dr. Irene Njuguna and Grace John-Stewart, are Multiple Principal Investigators of a new five-year National Institutes of Health award for “Impact of HIV and toxic metals exposure on neurodevelopment at school age (HOPE-X).” The study leverages an existing cohort of Kenyan children (HOPE) who were enrolled at 6 weeks of age and followed to 3 years, enabling the research team to extend follow-up to 8 years old to study the longer-term impact of HIV and environmental exposures on neurodevelopmental outcomes. The team will also explore the concentrations of pesticides and other toxic metals (mercury, cadmium, manganese and arsenic) in biological samples. (more…)

September 12, 2025

Dr. Anjuli Wagner and Dr. John Kinuthia receive new award to understand how mobile health technology supports PrEP adherence

Categories: Awards, HIV, Implementation Science, Research

Congratulations to Drs. Anjuli Wagner (Associate Professor, UW Global Health) and John Kinuthia (Affiliate Associate Professor, UW Global Health; Obstetrician Gynecologist, Kenyatta National Hospital) for receiving a National Institutes of Health award to fund “Mechanisms of Action for mobile SMS PrEP adherence intervention (mWACH PrEP Mechanisms)” that aims to understand how digital health technologies work to support women to adhere to PrEP, a daily oral pill to prevent HIV. Effectiveness of the pill requires it to be taken daily, yet more than half of women discontinue within the first month. (more…)

July 15, 2025

Research Scientist Dr. Emily Begnel receives early career award to study antimicrobial resistance and its effects on gut health and HIV exposure in children

Categories: Awards, Children, Gut Health and Child Survival, HIV and Co-Infections, Research

Congratulations to Dr. Emily Begnel, Research Scientist with Global WACh, for receiving a Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Award to fund “The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and effects on gut health among children who are HIV-exposed but uninfected.” The award funds early career investigators and their development towards independent research in child health. Dr. Begnel will conduct her research under the mentorship of Drs. Jennifer Slyker and Patricia Pavlinac (UW Global Health and Epidemiology), and collaborate with Dr. Ana Weil (UW School of Medicine) and the Weil Lab.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is rising globally and threatens public health by decreasing effectiveness of antibiotics in treating infections. Children who are HIV-exposed receive the antibiotic cotrimoxazole to prevent a range of bacterial infections; however, there is concern that it may contribute to the development of AMR in these children. There is urgency to better understand the dynamics of AMR development and spread, particularly among children in low- and middle-income countries where AMR is prevalent. Pathogens can transfer resistance genes to the bacteria in the gut microbiome, potentially contributing to long-term AMR. (more…)

June 26, 2025

Global WACh staff leads, Kellie List and Alyson Shumays, receive 2025 DGH Outstanding Staff Awards nominations