Research
June 7, 2019
Dr. Sarah Benki-Nugent and Kenya Healthy Brain Project receives EDGE Pilot Award for environmental health research
Categories: Awards, Children, HIV, Research
Environmental exposures in sub-Saharan Africa have received little attention despite data suggesting high levels of air pollutants and metals. Environmental pollutants are harmful to infants’ developing brains and may lead to poor neurocognitive outcomes into adolescence and adulthood. Dr. Sarah Benki-Nugent (Department of Global Health) is leading the newly launched Kenya Healthy Brain Project, a multi-disciplinary maternal-child environmental health research collaborative housed in the University of Nairobi that aims to build local research capacity, with the idea of moving research into policy practice to reduce exposures that threaten cognitive potential in children. (more…)
Dr. Sylvia LaCourse awarded two R21 awards to investigate novel TB diagnostic methods in HIV-infected pregnant women and children
Categories: Awards, HIV and Co-Infections, Research
Tuberculosis (TB) contributes to substantial morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected peripartum women and their children. We are pleased to announce that Dr. Sylvia LaCourse (Acting Assistant Professor, Medicine and Co-Director, HIV and Co-Infections Scientific Priority Area) received two National Institutes of Health-funded R21 awards to investigate novel TB diagnostic methods in HIV-infected children and TB-specific immune responses in pregnant women. (more…)
June 6, 2019
New NIH R01 will study effect of breast milk and gut microbiome to optimize growth in HIV-exposed uninfected children in Africa
Categories: Awards, Gut Health and Child Survival, Nutrition, Research
Dr. Christine McGrath, PhD, MPH
Dr. Grace Aldrovandi, MD, CM
Congratulations to Principal Investigators, Dr. Christine McGrath (Assistant Professor, Global Health) and Dr. Grace Aldrovandi (Chief, Division of Infectious Disease at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital; Professor, Pediatrics, UCLA Geffen School of Medicine), who received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 award for a new study entitled, “Effects of Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Gut Microbiome on Growth and Morbidity in HIV-Exposed Uninfected Infants.” The study team includes investigators from the Department of Global Health, Drs. Grace John-Stewart (Global WACh Director; Professor), Donna Denno (Professor), Judd Walson (Professor), Barbra Richardson (Adjunct Research Professor) and from the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Dr. Benson Singa (Research Scientist; Affiliated Assistant Professor, Global Health).
Despite the success in global health efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, there is a growing and often overlooked HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) population with a substantially higher risk of growth faltering, infectious morbidity, and mortality compared to HIV-unexposed uninfected (HUU) infants. The mechanisms responsible for poor growth and susceptibility to infection in HEU infants are unclear, but recent evidence suggests disturbances in the infant gut microbiome is a major cause. (more…)
May 30, 2019
Global WACh’s Next Big Thing 2019: Putting Women at the Center of Family Planning Innovations
Categories: Certificate Program, Family Planning, Research
On Tuesday, May 28th, 2019 at the UW Husky Union Building Lyceum, Global WACh hosted its annual “Next Big Thing” year-end celebration to highlight the achievements of the Center over the past year in research, training, and service. This year’s theme was “Putting Women at the Center of Family Planning Innovations.” Drs. Alison Drake and Jennifer Unger, co-directors of Global WACh’s Family Planning Decision Support Scientific Priority Area, invited collaborators across the Departments of Global Health, Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN), and Epidemiology to showcase their emerging expertise and partnerships in family planning efforts and advancements. Dr. Christine Dehlendorf of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), gave the keynote address on advocating for providers to move towards person-centered and justice-informed family planning care to better support women’s contraceptive needs and choices. (more…)
May 29, 2019
Dr. Irene Njuguna awarded 2019 CFAR Mentored International Investigator Award to improve adolescent and young adult health in Kenya
Categories: Awards, HIV, HIV and Co-Infections, Research
Congratulations to Dr. Irene Njuguna (PhD Candidate in UW Epidemiology; Infectious Disease Researcher, Kenyatta National Hospital) who is the recipient of the 2019 UW/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Mentored International Investigator Award! Dr. Njuguna’s new two-year project entitled, “Causes and risk factors for death in HIV positive adolescents and youth in Kenya,” aims to fill critical gaps in understanding cause-specific and underlying contributing factors to adolescent and young adult (AYA) deaths. Despite improvements in recent years to link HIV positive AYA to treatment and management to keep viral loads low, they remain at high risk of dying for reasons not well documented at many low-resource health facilities. (more…)
May 14, 2019
DeWorm3 Project launches deworming activities at trial sites to improve nutrition and health
Categories: Gut Health and Child Survival, Nutrition, Research
Over 1.5 billion people, including 835 million children, in the world’s poorest communities, are infected with soil-transmitted helminths (STH), commonly known as intestinal worms, and are in need of deworming medications. A single deworming pill is a safe and effective solution to combat worm infections that interfere with the body’s nutritional intake and impair developmental growth, especially in children. Periodic mass deworming protects a community by removing or reducing the worm burden of infected community members, thereby decreasing the risk of new individuals becoming infected. In 2016, Dr. Judd Walson (Department of Global Health), in collaboration with the Natural History Museum London and the University of Washington, launched the DeWorm3 Project to test the feasibility of interrupting transmission of STH using intensified mass drug administration strategies. DeWorm3 is a cluster randomized trial comparing community-wide deworming efforts of individuals of all ages to standard-of-care deworming of school-age children at schools. Findings from the clinical trial and accompanying implementation science research can support the development of STH program guidelines and innovative delivery strategies. Deworming activities launched in 2018 in trial sites in Benin, India, and Malawi. (more…)
April 24, 2019
Can community pharmacies in Kenya improve early access to antenatal and HIV prevention care? Dr. Melissa Mugambi awarded NIH Diversity Award to explore feasibility
Categories: Awards, Family Planning, HIV, Research
In setting with high HIV prevalence, early antenatal care (ANC) visits are vital to optimize HIV testing and prevention services to reduce maternal and pediatric mortality and morbidity. Late ANC attendance limits timely identification and delivery of HIV prevention services including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among pregnant women at high risk for HIV infection. To fill this gap, researchers are looking for ways to encourage pregnant women to seek ANC early and improve maternal and child health outcomes. In Kenya, community pharmacies, also known as drug shops or chemists, are playing an increasingly important role as sources of over-the-counter sexual and reproductive health products, including urine pregnancy tests and HIV self-testing kits. These pharmacies offer important and under-utilized access points to ANC and HIV prevention care for women and have the potential to inform a new innovative PrEP delivery model.
Dr. Melissa Mugambi (Assistant Professor, Department of Global Health, Implementation Science Program) received a National Institutes for Health (NIH) Diversity Supplement Award to lead a study on the feasibility of engaging community pharmacy providers in the distribution of pregnancy tests and subsequent referral of pregnant women to ANC, in order to promote early access to ANC and PrEP. (more…)
March 22, 2019
World TB Day 2019: Global WACh’s emerging research contributes to global efforts to end TB
Categories: Education, HIV and Co-Infections, Research
World TB Day, held each year on March 24, aims to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social, and economic consequences of tuberculosis (TB) and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The theme of World TB Day 2019 – “It’s Time” – urges global health organizations and government leaders to accelerate the TB response and ensure access to care.
Global WACh researchers are working hard to discover more effective diagnostic, treatment, and prevention measures for a TB-free world. They are collaborating with investigators on a number of studies, including HIV/TB immunopathogenesis and protection in infants and pregnant women, improved TB screening and novel non-sputum based diagnostics in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected children and adults, and implementation of TB prevention in adolescents. Continue reading for a summary of studies and a collection of publications. (more…)
March 11, 2019
Global WACh Researchers Share Latest Science at CROI 2019
Categories: Conferences, HIV, Research
Last week, Global WACh researchers participated in the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) held in Seattle from March 5-7, 2019. The annual conference brings together top basic, translational, and clinical researchers from around the world to share the latest studies, important developments, and best research methods in the ongoing battle against HIV/AIDS and related infectious diseases. Our researchers shared their latest findings on testing for HIV, human papillomavirus (HPV), tuberculosis (TB), and on PrEP delivery practices. Continue reading for highlights and a list of accepted posters by Global WACh researchers. (more…)
March 7, 2019
ATTACH Team Shares Findings at the Inter-CFAR Sub-Saharan Africa Symposium 2019
Categories: Conferences, HIV, Research, Youth
Global WACh’s ATTACH team shared scientific findings at the annual Inter-CFAR Sub-Saharan Africa Symposium from January 31st to February 2nd, 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya. The annual symposium incorporates career development activities targeted to the needs of early career investigators, hold keynote talks addressing scientific topics of interest for African HIV research, and identify novel future research directions. The team’s research posters generated a lot of interest in how adolescents transition from pediatric to adult HIV care, and opportunities to discuss overcoming challenges. (more…)
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