Research
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…)
August 25, 2025
Researchers support new trial to evaluate the effects of probiotics in highly vulnerable infants
Categories: Gut Health and Child Survival, Research
Preterm and small for gestational age (SGA) infants have a significantly higher risk of mortality and morbidity than term infants or those born with normal birth weight in low- and middle-income countries. However, improvements in outcomes in these highly vulnerable populations have been slow worldwide due to the complexity of medical management of small and vulnerable infants. In recent years, small-scale clinical trials conducted across a variety of settings have shown that probiotic supplementation can improve short- and long-term outcomes, including reducing rates of sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis and improving growth and neurodevelopment. However, there is limited data on use of probiotics in preterm and SGA populations that is needed to inform future policy and practice.
To help expand the evidence base of probiotic supplementation in preterm and SGA infants, Global WACh researchers are supporting the newly launched “Efficacy of probiotic supplementation in preterm and small for gestational age infants: A multi-centre, placebo-controlled, individually-randomised trial (PROPS Trial)” sponsored by the WHO Newborn and Child Health and Development Unit, coordinated by Johns Hopkins University, and funded by the Gates Foundation. The trial will assess the effect of probiotic supplementation on mortality, morbidity, and growth in 14,000 enrolled preterm or term SGA infants in the first six months of life in five South Asian (Bangladesh, Pakistan) and Sub-Saharan African (Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria) countries with high rates of preterm birth and malnutrition among infants. Implementing partners include: (more…)
August 18, 2025
New CHAIN Network study aims to support families of children after hospital discharge
Categories: Gut Health and Child Survival, Research
Researchers of the Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) Network, a group of clinical experts and scientists seeking to optimize care for vulnerable children in limited resource setting, investigated how often, when, and why young children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia die when admitted to hospitals. While hospital admission and treatment help many children recover, it may not alter the trajectory of their health, which is dictated by the child, family, and socio-cultural factors, leading to poor health outcomes and preventable deaths.
Leveraging what they’ve learned to develop new child survival interventions, CHAIN researchers launched a two-year study titled, “CHAIN-PoP: A Proof of Principle Trial Supporting Families of Children After Hospital Discharge,” to evaluate a combined intervention of health system strengthening at discharge and increased support to families of high-risk children. The added educational and financial support may improve caregivers’ empowerment and change the decision-making dynamics within the household in a favorable way. (more…)
July 21, 2025
Global WACh researchers and partners at the 2025 International Workshop on Pediatrics & HIV and International AIDS Society Conference: Posters and Presentations
Categories: Conferences, HIV, Mental Health, PrEP, Research, Youth
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), University of Nairobi, and Kenyatta National Hospitals at IAS 2025 in July 2025.
In July, researchers affiliated with UW/Global WACh and Kenyan partner institutions attended two conferences held in Kigali, Rwanda: The International Workshop on Pediatrics & HIV held from July 11-12 and the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science held from July 13-17. Both conferences are highly influential meetings on cutting-edge HIV research and its applications to move science into policy and practice.
We’ve rounded up 19 poster abstracts and one oral abstract by University of Washington, University of Nairobi, and Kenyatta National Hospital faculty, staff, and student researchers working on several collaborative studies based in Kenya. Their findings presented the last scientific discoveries on maternal mental health, childhood neurodevelopment, father engagement, pediatric HIV prevention and care, and PrEP uptake and adherence among adolescents and young women. (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 11, 2025
Lisa Orii receives Global Innovation Fund Award to integrate AI in app-based person-centered contraception services in Kenya
Categories: Awards, Certificate Program, Contraception, Family Planning, Research, students
Congratulations to Lisa Orii, PhD candidate in the School of Computer Science & Engineering and Global WACh Graduate Certificate Program, for receiving a 2025 UW Global Innovation Fund Award. The fund supports transformative cross-college, cross-continent research collaborations and global Husky learning experiences at UW.
Lisa will work with researchers at UW and Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) on a project titled, “Co-Design of Chatbots for App-Supported Person-Centered Contraceptive Decision Support among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Kenya in the Pharmacy Setting.” The research team includes Drs. Elizabeth Harrington (UW Global Health and Obstetrics & Gynecology), Elizabeth Bukusi (KEMRI), Serah Gitome (KEMRI), and Richard Anderson (UW Computer Science & Engineering). (more…)
June 6, 2025
Global WACh hosts annual Student Poster Symposium highlighting graduate student research
Categories: Certificate Program, HIV and Co-Infections, Implementation Science, PrEP, Research, Talks and Events
On Wednesday, June 4th, Global WACh hosted its annual Student Poster Symposium to highlight graduate student research affiliated with our center. Dozens of UW faculty, staff, students attended to learn about 17 students’ projects that fulfilled academic capstone and dissertation requirements, while providing opportunities to gain knowledge and build marketable skillsets in the field of maternal-child health.
The majority of presenters are enrolled in the Global WACh Graduate Certificate Program and are graduating in the 2025 academic year. The certificate program offers opportunities for additional learning about woman, adolescent, and child health topics through 12 credits of coursework and a 90-hour capstone. We wish these students the very best in their future endeavors as public health professionals.
Additional posters featured master and doctoral degree capstones and dissertations that led to major advancements in the scientific field and were featured at the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) held in San Francisco in March. CROI is considered the world’s leading HIV research meeting that attracts thousands of researchers and clinicians from around the globe – and is a fantastic stage to showcase our emerging early-stage researchers.
See the full list of participating students and their poster titles below. Click here to view the photo gallery courtesy of the Department of Global Health Communications team. (more…)
May 15, 2025
Dr. Taylor Hendrixson, UW Pediatrics Assistant Professor, receives 2025 CFAR New Investigator Award
Categories: Awards, Children, Research
Congratulations to Dr. Taylor Hendrixson, Assistant Professor in UW Pediatrics, for receiving a 2025 UW/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) New Investigator Award! The two-year award focuses on supporting early career investigators to conduct independent HIV research and apply for future funding to continue their HIV/AIDS research careers.
Dr. Hendrixson is a neonatologist, pediatric infectious disease physician and faculty within the UW Department of Pediatrics. His research has focused on improving maternal and early infant nutrition to optimize growth and improve long-term outcomes in low- and middle-income settings. He works on clinical and clinical-translational trials targeting populations at high-risk for nutritional deficiencies and growth faltering. He is the PI of a K23 award investigating multi-omic interactions of the maternal-breastmilk-infant triad and associations with clinical outcomes among women living with HIV and their infants HIV-exposed uninfected in Kenya.
With support from the new award, Dr. Hendrixson will investigate anemia and iron status in pregnancy among women living with HIV and associations with neurodevelopmental outcomes of children HIV-exposed uninfected to guide future interventional studies. (more…)
Postdoctoral Scholar-Fellow Dr. Jillian Neary receives 2025 CFAR New Investigator Award
Categories: Awards, Children, Research
Congratulations to Dr. Jillian Neary, Postdoctoral Scholar-Fellow with Global WACh, for receiving a 2025 UW/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) New Investigator Award! The two-year award focuses on supporting early career investigators to conduct independent HIV research and apply for future funding to continue their HIV/AIDS research careers.
Dr. Neary’s past work focused on strategies to increase pediatric HIV testing and improve HIV care for adolescents with HIV. Recently, her work focused on molecular epidemiology including HIV viral control among children with HIV and biomarkers of biological aging among children who were exposed to HIV in utero.
With support from the new award, she plans to explore whether breastfeeding and human milk oligosaccharide composition are associated with child telomere length (TL) among children in Kenya who were exposed to HIV in utero. The evidence fills an important need to further understand how breastfeeding may influence short- and long-term health outcomes.
April 25, 2025
Global WACh team supports Sukarya to build a data-driven adolescent health program in Rajasthan
Categories: Research
In August 2024, team members from Global WACh at the University of Washington had the opportunity to visit India as part of a research partnership with Sukarya, a non-governmental organization focused on improving health outcomes and promoting gender equity in India’s slum communities.
Pictured from left to right: Simran Purewal (Student Assistant, UW), Meera Satpathy (Founder and Chairperson, Sukarya), Rishika Mohanty (Project Coordinator, UW)
Sukarya was founded in 1998 by its chairperson and health innovator Ms. Meera Satpathy, and strives to improve the well-being of women, children and adolescents through delivering critical health, equity and gender-based programs. The organization has benefitted more than 6 million people in over 650 villages and 120 slums in rural areas of Haryan, Rajasthan, Delhi and Gurugram. Since its founding, Sukarya has won many awards for its impactful work, and is ranked in the Top 10 Trusted NGOs in India by the Fortune Leadership Awards.
In 2024, Drs. Tickell and Wagner joined forces with Sukarya to win a Global Innovation Fund (GIF) supporting the creation of a bi-directional partnerships between UW and Sukarya. With this funding, the UW team has supported Sukarya in design as innovative Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) adolescent health program drive by local data. Members of UW were able to travel to New Delhi, India to conduct a data needs assessment for Sukarya’s SBCC program. This initiative aims to foster positive changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to personal health, hygiene, nutrition, menstrual health, sexual health, family planning, mental health, and substance abuse among adolescents. The program’s goal is to empower adolescent with the knowledge and tools they need to make informed decisions about their health and well-being. The goal of the data needs assessment was to determine the optimal method of digital data collection to track participants changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. (more…)
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