My academic focus is applied, field-based research, primarily the design and evaluation of targeted, community-based sexual and reproductive health interventions. I have particular expertise in using qualitative and participatory methods, both in conducting research and also as a means to create enabling social environments for risk reduction with directly affected populations.
I have over 25 years' international research experience in the fields of HIV, sexual and reproductive behaviour, and the social determinants of risk among vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups, particularly sex workers and mobile populations. I was based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 2013-2018, as part of a collaboration with the WHO Ethiopia Country Office and Ethiopian Public Health Institute to establish Ethiopia's Maternal Death Surveillance & Response system. Following that, I returned to London and served as Director of the Centre for Evaluation at LSHTM from 2018-2021. In early 2024 I will be joining the MRC Unit in The Gambia to contribute to their social science programme of work.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I conduct training in research, monitoring, and evaluation skills for NGO, UN agencies and government institutions. I also develop and deliver short training packages on a range of topics including behaviour change interventions, reaching marginalised populations, and using participatory approaches. I helped design Ethiopia's national training curricula for Maternal Death Surveillance and Response, setting up a "cascade" training programme that has now reached 1500+ health professionals.
I also developed a Process Evaluation workshop package that the Centre for Evaluation can deliver to collaborating partners and tailor to their specific interests, which has been conducted in 6 countries to date.
At LSHTM, I have taught on Evaluation of Public Health Interventions, Health Promotion, Sexual Health, Social Epidemiology, Family Planning Programmes, Foundations in Reproductive Health, and Research Design and Analysis. I also teach on short courses at the London International Development Centre and Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp.
Research
I currently work on mixed-method process and impact evaluations of several HIV prevention and treatment programmes for female sex workers and high risk adolescents in Zimbabwe. In Ethiopia, I recently completed several studies on migration and health, with a focus on women's entry into domestic labour in the Middle East. As part of that work, I co-led the Migration and Health Research Action Group in Ethiopia (MiHRAGE), an interdiciplinary collaboration funded through the Medical Academy of Sciences.
Selected Publications
