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Professor Shelley Lees

Professor Anthropology of Public Health

United Kingdom

With 25 years of working and living in Tanzania I have conducted anthropological studies to explore gender and power with a focus on sexuality and violence. My anthropological research on disease epidemics in Tanzania and Sierra Leone focuses local experiences of biomedical research and epidemic response. In this field, I also provide critical perspectives on biomedical practices.

Affiliations

Department of Global Health and Development
Faculty of Public Health and Policy

Centres

Centre for Evaluation
Centre for Maternal Adolescent Reproductive & Child Health
Vaccine Centre

Teaching

I teach on the Medical Anthropology of Public Health module and Conflict and Health. I am also co-organiser of the Pandemic Preparedness Short Course which runs in February - March.

Research

In Mwanza I was co-investigator and anthropological lead on the Maisha Trial (strive.lshtm.ac.uk/projects/maisha-microfinance-and-gender-training-reduce-violence-against-women). I have also conducted research on sexual violence against children in Zanzibar with Karen Devries and Louise Knight, which has also explored constructions of childhood amongst the Swahili and IPV. I have also conducted research on cash transfers and IPV in Mali.

My research on anthropology of epidemics has included research on sexuality and HIV as part of a microbicides trial and more recently, research on young women's experiences of PrEP, both conducted in Mwanza, Tanzania. A more recent focus of my research has been on emergent epidemics, including Ebola. I am the lead anthropologist on the EBOVAC-Salone Trial (www.ebovac.org) and work package lead on the ALERRT consortium, focusing on the social science of community engagement (www.alerrt.global). I am also senior anthropologist with the UK-PHRST where the social science team conducts social science research, capacity building and deployment (www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/uk-phrst).
Our research group addressing the Politics and Anthropology of Violence and Epidemics, brings together all our research studies on violence and epidemics (www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/pave).
Research Area
Medical anthropology
Gender-based violence
Violence against women and girls
Disease and Health Conditions
HIV/AIDS
Ebola virus
Marburg virus
COVID-19
Country
Tanzania
Sierra Leone
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Uganda
Region
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only)

Selected Publications

Sleep health epidemiology in adults with and without HIV in Mwanza, Tanzania: Baseline results from an ongoing cohort study
KISIGO, GA; Issarow, B; Fadhil, S; Ruselu, G; Fabian, P; Garbindi, A; Mgema, E; Willkens, M; AYIEKO, P; LEES, S; Krieger, AC; Baisley, K; Peck, RN; KAPIGA, S;
2026
Sleep Epidemiology
Community leader–based event surveillance using a mobile reporting tool in Brazil and Cabo Verde
Mendes, S; Paiva, PP; Fontenele, L; Campos, J; Vasconcelos, D; Carvalho, Y; Afonso, DD; Costa, VM D; Rosa, FM; LEES, S; Nicholas, W; BOWER, H; Lima Mendonça, MD L; Hughes, G; Lotufo Brant de Carvalho, J;
2026
Journal of Health & Biological Sciences
Women's self-employment, business acumen, and emotional IPV: a longitudinal study in Tanzania.
Shukla, S; Mshana, G; Mosha, NR; Steinert, JI; Krajewska, J; HARVEY, S; LEES, S; KAPIGA, S; Stöckl, H;
2026
BMC women's health
The influence of stigma on PrEP uptake among adolescent girls and young women in Johannesburg, South Africa and Mwanza, Tanzania: Qualitative findings from the EMPOWER study.
Stangl, AL; Bryan, C; Barré, I; Ramskin, L; LEES, S; Ndimande-Khoza, N; Baron, D; COLOMBINI, M; HARVEY, S; KAPIGA, S; Scorgie, F; Delany-Moretlwe, S;
2026
PloS one
Developing Community Event-Based Surveillance Technology for Disease Outbreaks in Cross-Cultural Contexts
Araujo Carmine, RL; Oliveira Maquine, G; Do Rosario, IC C; Paiva Pereira, P; Da Costa Brant, VM; Mendes D’Angelo, S; BOWER, H; LEES, S; Nicholas, W; Hughes, G; Mendona, MD L L; Brant de Carvalho, JL;
2026
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Confronting (Mis)Trust in Uncertain Times: Anthropological Insights into Vaccine Development and Deployment for Emergent Epidemics in Tanzania and Sierra Leone
ENRIA, L; LEES, S;
2026
An Anthropology of Global Immunization Vaccine Politics and Realities in Ethnographic Perspective
Knowledge and acceptability of male HPV vaccination among young people and community stakeholders in northwest Tanzania: social sciences in the Add-Vacc trial.
KELLY, SA; Changalucha, J; Malibwa, D; EWING, VL; Mkungu, G; Deogratias, D; Hashim, R; Stanley, M; Lacey, C; HAYES, R; KAPIGA, S; BAISLEY, K; WATSON-JONES, D; LEES, S;
2025
Vaccine
Gender equity and intimate partner violence among adolescents and young adults in Tanzania.
Madaha, F; Reif, LK; Cordeiro, AA; HARVEY, S; LEES, S; Masasi, F; Lugata, A; Nago, F; Mwakisole, AH; KAPIGA, S; Downs, JA; Wamoyi, J;
2025
Culture, health & sexuality
Using an analogue-digital hybrid clinical data management platform during a two-dose preventive Ebola virus vaccine trial in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Brindle, HE; Tetsa-Tata, D; EDWARDS, T; CHOI, EM-L; Kasonia, K; Aboubacar, S; Mambula, G; Kavunga-Membo, H; Grais, R; Johnson, J; Bausch, DG; Muyembe-Tamfum, J-J; Ama, IS; LEES, S; WATSON-JONES, D; Camacho, A; ROBERTS, CH;
2025
PLOS global public health
Regulator experiences of trials during Ebola epidemics in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kasonia, K; Baiden, F; Le Marcis, F; Lapika, B; Kiyulu, J; Kimina, H; Bikioli, F; Attas, F; MANSARAY, A; BURNS, R; Nouvet, E; Thys, S; Paviotti, A; MANNO, D; Fahnbulleh, MK; Leigh, B; Samai, M; GREENWOOD, B; LEES, S; Mulopo, PM; WATSON-JONES, D;
2025
Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH
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