SAMRC/UJ PACER, is excited to host Haley Irene Sisel and Kathrine Scarlett Gourneay, graduate students from John’s Hopkins University for 4 months from 22 Aug 2022

Haley Sisel will be actively involved in a research project with goals to leverage existing underutilized data to both inform future pandemic responses and to study the differential risks of onward HIV transmission among key populations in South Africa, providing the evidence needed for a more heterogeneous approach to HIV programming and better understanding of transmission risks among key populations in the country. The setting for this project will be the University of Johannesburg (University of Johannesburg; Block J, UJ Auckland Park Bunting Road Campus; 37 Bunting Rd; Cottesloe, Johannesburg; 2092) located in Johannesburg, South Africa.

This important work is characterized by three primary projects:

(1) Leveraging novel methods to harness large and underutilized datasets to inform both policy and programs and address individual needs and gaps in HIV responses across sub–Saharan Africa;

(2) Evaluating routinely collected program data to inform tailoring and adaptation of implementation strategies for strengthening delivery of HIV prevention and treatment among key populations in South Africa; and

(3) Assessing trends and patterns of COVID-19 vaccine coverage across and within populations in South Africa.

Ms. Sisel is scheduled to work on this project from June 2022 to December 2022 and intends to spend five months in South Africa, from August to December of 2022. Ms. Sisel’s salary and living expenses during her stay in South Africa will be fully paid for by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This research program has been fully endorsed by the relevant institutions in South Africa and the United States. As Director of the South African Medical Research Council/ University of Johannesburg (SAMRC/UJ) – Pan African Centre for Epidemics Research (PACER) Extramural Unit and Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Johannesburg, Faculty of Health Sciences