Awards
December 29, 2022
Mobile WACh Empower trial, aimed to evaluate SMS-based reproductive health counseling intervention among women living with HIV, launches in Kenya
Categories: Awards, Contraception, Family Planning
Mobile WACh Empower study team members from UW Global WACh and Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya (Credit: Alison Drake)
On December 1st, the Mobile WACh Empower randomized clinical trial launched in 10 sites in Kenya. In this trial, the study team aims to assess whether a digital, self-administered reproductive life planning counseling tool given to women living with HIV (WLWH) at baseline and continued counseling support through the unique two-way Mobile WACh SMS platform that combines automated bulk SMS messaging and dialogue with a health care provider (the foundation for several former and ongoing Global WACh studies using mobile health technology) can reduce contraceptive discontinuation, improve dual contraceptive use, and help women plan for healthy pregnancies. This innovative intervention was developed though stakeholder engagement in workshops held with WLWH, health care providers, and policy makers in June and November 2022. The intervention is designed to reduce the burden for health care providers to offer reproductive counseling, tailor reproductive life planning counseling for a range of needs, and importantly, support women as their needs change over time. (more…)
New study will develop novel approach to measure fertility intentions among Kenyan women
Categories: Awards, Contraception, Family Planning
Closeup of pregnancy test and contraceptive pills birth control concept
Measuring fertility intentions, which pertain to ideal family size and desire for additional children, is complex and may be influenced by contextual factors and culture, and beliefs held by individuals that drive their attitudes and behaviors. Most existing fertility intention scales are designed to classify women with binary measures, such as having an intended or unintended pregnancy, and do not allow for the spectrum of feelings that women might have, including ambivalent feelings about pregnancy. (more…)
August 4, 2022
Laurén Gómez awarded young investigator prizes at the 2022 International AIDS Society Conference
Categories: Awards, HIV, PrEP, Research
Laurén Gómez (second to right) stands with other winners selected for the IAS/MSD Prize for Research in HIV Prevention
At the 2022 International AIDS Society Conference, Laurén Gómez, a Research Coordinator with Global WACh, was selected as a winner of the Lange/van Tongeren Prize for Young Investigators (co-partnered with ANRS – France Recherche Nord & Sud Sida-HIV Hépatites) and the Prize for Research in HIV Prevention (co-partnered with MSD – Merck Sharpe & Dohme).
The young investigator awards support early career researchers who demonstrate innovation, originality, rationale and quality in the field of HIV research. The prizes are granted to the top-scoring abstract in each of the five tracks: Track A – Basic and translational research; Track B – Clinical research; Track C – Epidemiology and prevention research; Track D – Social and political research, law, policy and human rights; and Track E – Implementation research, economics, systems and synergies with other health and development sectors. The Prize for Research in HIV Prevention is given to the top-scoring abstracts with a focus on prevention research that addresses critical knowledge gaps and links new evidence to program priorities in the response to the HIV pandemic. Laurén received both awards for the Track C abstract titled, “Association of prenatal PrEP exposure with neurodevelopmental and growth outcomes beyond 24 months among Kenyan children.” (more…)
October 15, 2021
Dr. Patricia Pavlinac receives top award at Global Health industry award ceremony
Categories: Awards
Dr. Patricia Pavlinac, Assistant Professor of Global Health and Co-Director of Global WACh’s Gut Health and Child Survival scientific priority area, won the Rising Star Award at the Washington Global Health Alliance’s Global Impact Award ceremony held virtually on Thursday, October 14th. The award recognizes an individual 40 or under who is making an exceptional impact in a global health organization or initiative.
Read more about Dr. Pavlinac and the other UW winners on the Department of Global Health’s website.
August 2, 2021
Dr. Erica Lokken receives ‘First Prize Oral Presentation – Young Investigator’ Award at HIV & STI 2021 World Congress
Categories: Awards, HIV and Co-Infections, Research
Dr. Erica Lokken, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Global Health, received the ‘First Prize Oral Presentation – Young Investigator’ Award at the STI & HIV 2021 World Congress for her talk titled, “Vaginal washing behavior and fecundability in Kenyan women planning pregnancies.”
May 21, 2021
Researchers receive award to develop community-based SMS text intervention to improve neonatal health
Categories: Awards, mHealth, Research
Principal Investigator Dr. Keshet Ronen (UW DGH) with Site Principal Investigators, Dr. John Kinuthia (Kenyatta National Hospital) and Dr. Isaac Holeman (Co-Founder of Medic Mobile)
In Kenya, like many other resource-limited settings, neonatal mortality remains unacceptably high. Community health volunteers (CHVs) are a large cadre of lay health workers whose work has the potential to address a critical gap in efforts to improve neonatal health in resource-limited settings. Incorporating mobile health (mHealth) tools and remote contact with clients into CHV workflow may be an effective strategy to pave the way for enhanced care in the high-risk neonatal period.
Dr. Keshet Ronen, Acting Assistant Professor of Global Health, is leading a new five-year study titled, “CHV-NEO: Community-based digital communication to support neonatal health,” funded by the National Institutes of Health. Collaborators include Drs. John Kinuthia (Kenyatta National Hospital), Isaac Holeman and Beatrice Wasunna (Medic Mobile), and Jennifer Unger (Women and Infants’ Hospital, Brown University). (more…)
May 10, 2021
Research Trainee Dickins Onyango receives UW TB Research and Training Award
Categories: Awards, HIV and Co-Infections, Research
Global WACh’s trainee, Dr. Dickins Onyango of the Kisumu County Department of Health in Kenya, received a UW-Kenya Tuberculosis Research and Training Program (KTRTP) Trainee Award that recognizes the efforts of early-career scientists who have made significant contributions to the entire spectrum of TB research. This award provides support for educational expenses including conference registration, publication expenses, or educational materials.
With the award, Dickens presented a lecture at the 5th Annual UW Tuberculosis Symposium entitled, “Sub-optimal biomarker-confirmed adherence and correlates of nonadherence to isoniazid preventive therapy in children living with HIV in western Kenya,” held on March 23 and 24, 2021. Congratulations, Dickins!
May 3, 2021
Research Assistant Jill Neary receives a National Institute of Health predoctoral fellowship to support pediatric HIV research training
Categories: Awards, HIV, Research, students
Congratulations to Jill Neary, Global WACh trainee and PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology, for receiving a National Institute of Health’s (NIH) F31 predoctoral training fellowship to support her dissertation research on pediatric HIV. The three-year award will provide funding support to learn new analysis methods and content-area expertise in molecular epidemiology, neuropsychological assessments, and longitudinal data analysis. (more…)
April 29, 2021
Research Assistant Michelle Bulterys selected for UW CFAR STD/AIDS Research Training Fellowship in Epidemiology
Categories: Awards, HIV, students
Michelle Bulterys spent the summer of 2019 conducting fieldwork at the antenatal care research site in Kampala, Uganda.
Michelle Bulterys, first year PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology, Global WACh research assistant, and the 2020 Recipient of the UW School of Public Health’s Gilbert S. Omenn Award for Academic Achievement, was recently selected for a prestigious predoctoral fellowship which will support the remaining three years of her doctoral training. The UW Center for AIDS and STD (CFAR)’s STD/AIDS Research Training Fellowship Program is an NIH-supported T32 training grant, directed by Drs. Anna Wald and Sheila Lukehart. The Program aims to train the next generation of leaders in STD and AIDS research. (more…)
April 9, 2021
New grant award supports a tuberculosis and HIV co-infections training program in Kenya
Categories: Awards, HIV and Co-Infections, Research
A collaborative team leading a new TB and HIV training program in Kenya includes Thomas Hawn, Elizabeth Obimbo, Videlis Nduba, David Horne, Sylvia LaCourse, and Ksenia Koon
Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV are two deadly infectious diseases causing complex, intertwined epidemics. TB is especially life-threatening to people living with HIV who have weakened immune systems. Treating TB and HIV simultaneously is possible with services that have traditionally treated one illness over the other. The integration of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment programs can reduce the impact of the HIV epidemic on TB incidence and the burden of TB in HIV-infected individuals.
Despite progress in collaborative TB/HIV activities, there is still an urgent need for the research and development of new tools and strategies to accelerate progress towards TB and HIV elimination. (more…)
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