Awards
March 4, 2026
RISE collaborators attend launch meeting in Kenya for HIV/ART exposure on child neurodevelopment research
Categories: Awards, HIV and Co-Infections, Neurodevelopment
RISE collaborators from multiple research institutes met in Nairobi, Kenya.
Awarded in late 2025, RISE aims 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 in Botswana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. It 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. Investigators come from partner institutions in Kenya (University of Nairobi, Kenyatta National Hospital, UW-Kenya, Kenya Medical Research Institute), Zimbabwe (Zvitambo, Queen Mary University, London), Botswana (Botswana Harvard Partnership, Mass General Hospital), Mayo Clinic, Seattle Children’s Hospital, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Emory University, and Indiana University. (more…)
Research Scientist Dieudonne Hakizimana receives award to improve infant health outcomes in Ethiopia
Categories: Awards, Gut Health and Child Survival, Research
Congratulations to Dieudonne Hakizimana, Global WACh Research Scientist and PhD Candidate in the UW Department of Global Health, and collaborators of Strengthening Opportunities through Partnership in Ethiopia (SCOPE) for receiving a UW Global Innovation Fund Award for “Assessing post-trial sustainment of a faith leader–led initiative to improve newborn and infant health in Ethiopia and identifying factors influencing sustainment to inform scale-up and long-term planning.”
This award will support a rigorous post-trial assessment of SCOPE’s LAUNCH (Leading Advancements for the Uptake of Newborn and Community Health) intervention that paired Ethiopian Orthodox priests with community health workers (CHWs) to deliver newborn and infant health education to families. The trial explored how linking religious leaders with front-line health workers may catalyse and empower local communities to improve health outcomes for newborns. Read the LAUNCH protocol paper published in September 2024. (more…)
February 18, 2026
Global WACh Rising Star adolescent smoking research awarded at the Paediatric Society of Ghana Annual General and Scientific Meeting
Categories: Awards, Conferences, Research, Talks and Events
Dr. Kingsley Hattoh, a doctor and researcher affiliated with the Tamale Teaching Hospital
Congratulations to Global WACh Rising Star (2023-2024) Dr. Rafiuk Cosmos Yakubu and Dr. Kingsley Hattoh with the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, for sharing outstanding research linked to the Global WACh-funded study, “Association of Inhaled-Substance Use and Respiratory Problems in Adolescents in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana” at the annual Paediatric Society of Ghana Annual General and Scientific Meeting held from February 5th-7th.
Dr. Hattoh was named winner of Best Abstract (Poster Category). (more…)
February 17, 2026
Dr. Kirk Tickell receives award to contribute to Kenyan national surveillance of highly drug-resistant organisms
Categories: Awards, Gut Health and Child Survival
Congratulations to Dr. Kirk Tickell, Research Assistant Professor in Global Health, for receiving a UW Royalty Research Award for “Epidemiology of carbapenemase-producing Escherichia coli from children being discharged from referral hospitals in Kenya.” Over a 12-month span, this study aims to contribute to the Kenyan national surveillance of emerging highly drug-resistant organisms. (more…)
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…)
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