DGHI Faculty Receive New Funding

Five researchers at the Duke Global Health Institute have been awarded new funding for their global health research. This support spans work in the areas of HIV, mental health, oral health, and innovation in the delivery of health care. 

DGHI faculty member Kathleen Sikkema has received a three-year $581,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to work on a project that seeks to improve the health of South African women with traumatic stress in HIV care. The study will develop and pilot test an intervention called ImpACT, or Improving AIDS Care after Trauma, to reduce avoidant coping, traumatic stress, and risk behaviors, and increase engagement in care. The intervention will take place in a public antiretroviral therapy clinic and target women during the critical period when they initiate medication. The goal of this study is to have a structured intervention curriculum that is culturally relevant for HIV infected women in South Africa and data on feasibility, acceptability and target outcomes.

DGHI Postdoctoral Associate Sheri Towe has been awarded a one-year $51,000 grant from the Duke Center for AIDS Research and National Institutes of Health to conduct a clinical trial to understand the impact of cognitive training on medication adherence among HIV-infected individuals. The study team will evaluate the potential effectiveness of a cognitive training program to decrease cognitive impulsivity, and in turn, improve medication adherence.  This is the idea that individuals would prefer larger, delayed rewards rather than smaller, immediate rewards. This model is particularly relevant for medication adherence because many of the benefits linked with adherence are longer-term rather than immediate.  This research has potential to translate to clinical practice and may lead to cost-effective interventions for improving medication adherence among HIV-infected individuals.

DGHI faculty member Krishna Udayakumar has been awarded a two-year $330,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support Duke University’s International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery (IPIHD) in its mission to improve access to quality and affordable care worldwide. IPIHD supports innovators and entrepreneurs in scaling up and replicating successful innovative delivery solutions around the world. The organization’s work is focused in these primary areas: knowledge and networking; mentoring; and regulatory and policy; and the annual Investor-Innovator Conference;.

Kim Walker, associate director of the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, has received a one-year $75,000 grant from the NC Department of Health and Human Services for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative. The purpose of this project is to implement an intensive teen pregnancy and HIV/STI prevention program, in collaboration with community-based partners, to effectively reduce and delay the behaviors that put someone at risk for teen pregnancy and HIV/STIs. The Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research is partnering with the Craven County Health Department in New Bern, NC on this work.  The initiative also focuses on building essential life skills to reduce future risk behavior for these adolescents in Craven County, NC.

DGHI faculty member Bei Wu has been awarded a one-year $241,000 grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to develop an oral health intervention for individuals with mild dementia. The team will work with individuals with mild dementia and caregivers to identify challenges in oral care and help them engage in more effective oral care. Few interventions have addressed oral health problems among older adults in general, and in particular, among individuals with dementia.  The project has the potential to create an innovative approach to implementing a cooperative oral hygiene care plan, enabling individuals with dementia to maintain independence and quality of life for an extended period of time.