News
March 22, 2019
World TB Day 2019: Global WACh 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
Does the message matter? New award to characterize effect of Mobile WACh intervention
As more households in low-income countries own a mobile phone than have access to electricity or adequate sanitation, health care providers are progressively utilizing mobile health (mHealth) platform approaches to provide guidance and support to patients between clinic visits. Evidence shows mobile short message service (SMS) programs improve HIV and maternal-child health outcomes, but there is less understanding about the types of messages that engage recipients and the mechanisms that lead to changes in health behavior.
We are pleased to announce that Drs. Jennifer Unger (Assistant Professor, OB/GYN and Global Health) and Keshet Ronen (Clinical Assistant Professor, Global Health) are the principal investigator and co-investigator, respectively, of a UW Royalty Research Fund award to analyze participant messages, and yield an understanding of how recipients use these systems and how care seeking is impacted by SMS conversations. (more…)
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.
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…)
Dr. Patty Pavlinac awarded UW Royalty Research Fund to examine antibiotic-resistance in enteric bacteria in children
Categories: Awards, Gut Health and Child Survival
Congratulations to Dr. Patty Pavlinac (Assistant Professor, Global Health) and her team of co-investigators, who received a competitive UW Royalty Research Fund award to study antibiotic resistance in E.coli, Salmonella, and Shigella among children in limited-resource settings. Dr. Pavlinac is co-director of Global WACh’s Gut Health and Child Survival scientific priority and is an emerging expert in pediatric enteric disease epidemiology. This new one-year project will be an extension of her ongoing research in diarrheal disease and antibiotic therapy in sub-Saharan Africa. This close examination of the genetic determinants of antibiotic resistance among recently hospitalization children in Kenya offers much needed insight into documenting the burden, risk factors, and transmission of antibiotic resistance in Kenya.
Antibiotics have revolutionized the treatment of common bacterial infections and currently play a crucial role in reducing childhood mortality. However, the alarming increase in antibiotic resistance among bacteria is becoming a global concern and it threatens to undo progress made in childhood survival. In this new project, Dr. Pavlinac and her study team will genetically characterize the antibiotic resistance patterns of bacteria isolated from the stool of Kenyan children who were recently discharged from hospitals, a population at high risk of death and re-hospitalization, as part of the ongoing NIH-funded Toto Bora trial (PI: Dr. Judd Walson). Information on prevalent resistance genes in E. coli, Salmonella, and Shigella could reveal transmission patterns of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens that spread to vulnerable communities and windows of intervention opportunities. The findings will be important to inform clinical management and strategic planning policies to reduce the burden of antibiotic-resistant infections in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Pavlinac’s team includes a multidisciplinary team of investigators, Dr. Olusegun Soge (Assistant Professor, Global Health and Medicine), Dr. Judd Walson (Professor, Global Health, Medicine, Pediatrics, and Epidemiology [Adjunct]), Dr. Ferric Fang (Professor, Laboratory Medicine; Director, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at Harborview Medical Center), Dr. Benson Singa (Research Scientist, Kenya Medical Research Institute [KEMRI]), and Research Assistants Stephanie Belanger (PhD Candidate in Epidemiology, UW) and Doreen Rwigi (MS Student in Microbiology, KEMRI).
February 7, 2019
New grant to discover immune mechanism responses in pediatric HIV and TB
Principal Investigators, Drs. Grace John-Stewart (Global WACh Director; Professor, Global Health, Epidemiology, Medicine, and Pediatrics) and Cheryl Day (Assistant Professor, Emory University School of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology) received a NIH/NIAID R01 award that supports research to discover changes in immune mechanisms and markers of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the pathogenic bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB), in children exposed to or infected with HIV. (more…)
February 6, 2019
Drs. Anjuli Wagner, Irene Njuguna receive CFAR Int’l Pilot Award to engage hard-to-reach adolescents via WhatsApp
Congratulations Anjuli Wagner (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Global Health) and Irene Njuguna (PhDc Epidemiology; Infectious disease researcher, Kenyatta National Hospital) for receiving a CFAR International Pilot Award for their project, “WhatsApp focus group and respondent-driven sampling: novel approaches to engage diverse adolescents.”
The new project will test new technology-based approaches to engage adolescents who do not typically seek HIV preventative and treatment services. This one year project will take place in Nairobi, Kenya in collaboration with Kenyatta National Hospital. (more…)
January 31, 2019
Dr. Sarah Benki-Nugent awarded UW Global Innovation Fund to launch environmental health research collaborative
Categories: Awards, Children, Environment
Every year, the UW Office of Global Affairs’ Global Innovation Fund receives dozens of proposals from UW researchers and offers seed funding to the most outstanding projects that spark cross-continental and multi-disciplinary research collaborations, innovative study abroad programming, and more.
We are so pleased that Dr. Sarah Benki-Nugent (Clinical Assistant Professor, Global Health) and her team (listed below) is one of 20 awardees this year! (more…)
January 30, 2019
Certificate Student Winter Spotlight: Jaclyn Escudero
Categories: Certificate Program, students
Second-year MPH in Global Health and Global WACh Certificate Student, Jaclyn Escudero, had an exciting year as a research assistant for Global WACh’s “PrEP Adherence Among AGYW: A Multidimensional Evaluation” study (an extension of the PrIYA and PrIMA studies), which is funded by the NIH and led by Drs. Grace John-Stewart (Global WACh Director) and Pamela Kohler (Associate Professor, Global Health and Psychosocial and Community Health).
Jaclyn assisted Dr. Jillian Pintye (Research Fellow, Global Health) in developing one of two research protocols to evaluate the factors that influence PrEP uptake, continuation, and adherence among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Kenya.
(more…)
January 28, 2019
Global WACh Student Researchers Feature Posters at the 2019 Global Healthies
Categories: Awards, Research, students
On January 23rd, the University of Washington Department of Global Health held its annual Global Healthies Opportunities Fair and Poster Competition, which seeks to strengthen connections and start new collaborations for better global health impacts. It was an exciting evening with a large presence of Global WACh faculty, staff, students and colleagues engaging around our Center’s research and training opportunities.
This year, 12 Global WACh research assistants and Certificate students competed in the poster competition across four distinct categories (Discovery and Development, Education and Training, Implementation and Application, and Public Health Service and Direct Care). (more…)
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