Nelly Mugo, MBChB, MMed, MPH

Research Associate Professor, Global Health

Prof. Nelly R. Mugo is an associate research professor in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington, a senior principal clinical research scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and a reproductive health specialist with three decades of work experience. Her research focus has been on the prevention of HIV and cervical cancer among other reproductive health research work.  She has been an investigator on two landmark clinical trials, the Partners PrEP study that contributed evidence to inform the change of indication for use of Truvada as HIV prevention pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and a protocol lead for the ongoing ‘Kenya Single-dose HPV Vaccine-Efficacy (KEN SHE) Study –’ that has provided evidence on the efficacy of single-dose HPV vaccination. She is a member of the International Papillomavirus Society education committee, and the Kenya Obstetrics and Genecology society and has contributed to several World Health Organization and Kenya ministry of health working group scientific committees. She is widely published in peer review journals.

Publications

  1. Owidi, E, Ngure, K, Mogere, P, Njoroge, J, Ayub, S, Njiru, R et al.. Mental health service delivery among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) seeking HIV prevention and treatment services in central Kenya: A qualitative study of AGYW and healthcare providers' perceptions. PLoS One. 2025;20 (12):e0337795. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0337795. PubMed PMID:41348677 PubMed Central PMC12680144.
  2. Hathaway, CL, Brown, ER, Cherne, S, Sepulveda, AL, Chirenje, ZM, Jeenarain, N et al.. Association of HPV on risk of HIV acquisition in african women: Analyses from MTN-020/ASPIRE. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2025; :. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djaf336. PubMed PMID:41259068 .
  3. MacLean, F, Zemek, RM, Tsegaye, AT, Graham, JB, Swarts, JL, Vick, SC et al.. Genital herpes shedding episodes associate with altered spatial organization and activation of mucosal immune cells. JCI Insight. 2025; :. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.197491. PubMed PMID:41252205 .
  4. Lawore, DC, Jena, S, Berard, AR, Birse, K, Lamont, A, Mackelprang, RD et al.. Computational microbiome pharmacology analysis elucidates the anti-cancer potential of vaginal microbes and metabolites. Front Microbiol. 2025;16 :1602217. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1602217. PubMed PMID:41035891 PubMed Central PMC12479523.
  5. Mugwanya, KK, Saina, M, Mugo, NR, MaWhinney, S, Morrow, M, Schaafsma, TT et al.. Adherence thresholds for emtricitabine-tenofovir disoproxil fumarate preexposure prophylaxis against HIV acquisition in cisgender women: A randomized directly observed dosing study. PLoS Med. 2025;22 (9):e1004732. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004732. PubMed PMID:40924774 PubMed Central PMC12435667.
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