Building the future
…of global public health
Current Fellows
MICHELLE CHANG
Michelle Chang (she/hers), MD, is a second-year Infectious Disease fellow and first-year post-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship. Chang’s research interest in global health and HIV originated in 2012 when she investigated potential viral factors contributing to Botswana’s false recent rate at the Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership lab. Her previous research has explored gaps in HIV prevention and screening in Washington Heights, the utility of procalcitonin in identifying bacterial infections in patients with COVID-19, prolonged SARS-CoV-2 persistence in a solid organ transplant patient, the effect of oral vancomycin on the gut microbiome and gut-derived uremic solutes, and the role of the gut microbiome in the regulation of serum amyloid A. She has also been involved in the ongoing clinical response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 monkeypox outbreak and provides HIV primary care at the Comprehensive Health Program. Chang completed her BA in Chemistry at Harvard University in 2014, her MD at NYU School of Medicine in 2018, and her Internal Medicine residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2021.
KAVITHA GANESAN
Kavitha Ganesan (she/hers) MPH is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and a pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship. Her research mentor is Dr. Andrea Low, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health who is currently the lead epidemiologist on the multi-country Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (PHIA) and the Project Director for the Lesotho Violence Against Children Survey (VACS). Ms. Ganesan is working with Dr. Low on several projects using PHIA data on gaps in the HIV care continuum and characterizing social, demographic, and clinical attributes of those missed in the UNAIDS 90-90-90 2020 targets. She is also working on modeling how reaching those missed in the cascade affects incidence of HIV in PHIA countries. She has an MPH from George Washington University in Epidemiology & Biostatistics, focusing on infectious diseases. Her past research experiences include the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission with the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) and monitoring and evaluating Emergency Department HIV screening programs in pediatric facilities located in Washington, DC. Prior to starting the fellowship, Ms. Ganesan managed PEPFAR’s programmatic research portfolio, partnered through the US Military HIV Program and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Africa with a strong focus on key and priority populations. Projects under this portfolio include 1) the African Cohort Study (AFRICOS), 2) Basic Program Evaluations (BPE’s) in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria, 3) Improving retention in HIV Care and treatment services through the development of a network of ART clinics within the fishing communities in Uganda; and 4) Feasibility of implementing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among HIV negative adolescent girls and young women sex works in Uganda. Ms. Ganesan’s research interests include HIV implementation science and program evaluation among vulnerable populations in resource-limited settings.
ALEYA KHALIFA
Aleya Khalifa, MPH is a second-year student in the Epidemiology PhD program and a pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Training Program. Ms. Khalifa’s research aims to improve HIV prevention programs for mobile populations, including both climate and labor migrants. With her research mentor Dr. Joanne Mantell, Ms. Khalifa contributes to studies on innovative service delivery models, such as differentiated PrEP care, for these hard-to-reach populations. Ms. Khalifa is also interested in developing new survey, cohort and modeling methods that can improve community-level HIV estimates in the context of increasing population mobility. Prior to starting the fellowship, Ms. Khalifa worked with UNICEF to monitor the global HIV response for children, adolescents and women. Ms. Khalifa has also worked with the CDC on projects related to HIV surveillance, population-based surveys, and epidemic modelling in sub-Saharan African countries. Ms. Khalifa received her MPH in Epidemiology from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
DOMONIQUE REED
Domonique M. Reed, MPH, is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Epidemiology Department and a third-year pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Training Program. Her previous research at the U.S. Military HIV Research Program focused on the complexities of partner dynamics and the psychosocial implications of serostatus disclosure on engagement in HIV care services. In the three years of her doctoral program, Reed worked with Dr. Jessica Justman to assess the endorsement of inequitable gender norms as an effect modifier for HIV infection in adolescent girls and young adult women in age-disparate and intergenerational partnerships; as well as correlates of couples HIV testing uptake among adolescents and young adults using Population-based HIV Impact Assessment data. Reed is also interested in applying novel data science methods for integrating heterogeneous data sources to expand multi-level assessments of the structural determinants of HIV among adolescent girls and young women. She completed her B.S. in Community Health at the University of Maryland in 2014 and her MPH in Epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2017
JONATHAN RUSSELL
Jonathan Russell (he/his) MPH is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and a pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship. His dissertation sponsor is Dr. Sharon Schwartz, professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, who currently focuses her work on the relationship between potential outcomes approaches to causality and systems dynamics. Mr. Russell is working with Dr. Schwartz on an examination of the racial and ethnic inequity in HIV incidence among sexual minority men (SMM) in the U.S.—specifically, on the historical trajectory of the disparity, its causes, and the role of PrEP and TasP implementation as drivers and potential mitigators of the unequal disease burden. He is also a part of the Spatial Epidemiology Lab and is mentored by the lab’s director, Dr. Dustin T. Duncan, associate professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and co-director of the Social and Spatial Epidemiology Unit. Mr. Russell has an MPH in epidemiology from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, where his master’s thesis explored the racial and ethnic disparities in Tuberculosis incidence among New York City’s U.S.-born population. Before returning to Columbia, he was an epidemiologist with the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS), a longitudinal evaluation of the long-term effects of HIV infection and antiretroviral medication among perinatally HIV-infected or exposed children and young adults. His research with PHACS assessed different treatment regimens and their impact on hearing and language, mitochondrial function, and oral health outcomes.
CHO-HEE SHRADER
Cho-Hee Shrader (she/hers), PhD, MPH, is a prevention scientist and a postdoctoral research fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Program. She is also affiliated with Dr. Dustin Duncan’s Spatial Epidemiology Lab at Columbia University. Shrader’s research explores how the intersection of implementation science, social networks, and neighborhood characteristics impacts minority health and health disparities, such as HIV vulnerability, mental health, and substance use disorder among sex, gender, and racial/ethnic minority communities. She leverages her previous experiences working in low-resource community-based organizations to inform her research approach. Currently, her Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV pilot project examines the feasibility of a sociocentric network-based respondent-driven sampling recruitment method for HIV prevention programming among Black, Latino, and Caribbean men who have sex with men and use drugs. Shrader received her PhD in Prevention Science and Community Health at the University of Miami School of Medicine, funded by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the NIMHD. Her F31 award and dissertation explored how social networks and neighborhood determinants influenced Latine/x sexual minority men’s access to PrEP and PrEP-related information. Shrader received her MPH in Global Health from Emory University and completed her BS in Physiology at the University of Iowa and the University of Cape Town. She is also an HIV, Infectious Disease, and Global Health Implementation Research Institute (HIGH IRI) fellow.
SARA WALLACH
Sara Wallach (she/hers), MPH, is a first-year student in Columbia’s Epidemiology PhD Program and a pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship. Most recently, she worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Zimbabwe, monitoring, evaluating, and managing programs for DREAMS, PrEP, and key populations. Ms. Wallach previously worked for the New Jersey Department of Health managing the state’s “ending the HIV epidemic” efforts, PrEP and syringe access programs, and transitional housing programs for persons living with HIV. Her research has included analyses of Population-based Impact Assessment data and the creation and analyses of cross-sectional surveys on experiences of LGBTQ+ conversion therapy and COVID-19 in marginalized populations. Her research interests include HIV, harm reduction, human rights, LGBTQ+ health, and implementation science. Ms. Wallach received her MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2020 with a certificate in Evaluation: International Health Programs.
Testimonials
“The training fellowship exposes you to cutting-edge implementation science research and researchers.”
The diversity of exposure through the weekly didactic sessions is such a unique opportunity to learn about the career paths and research of leaders in the field from across institutions.”
“I feel very supported in my mentor/mentee relationship, and I have been given formative opportunities to engage with diverse research teams.”
“A highlight of the fellowship has been how the faculty-fellow seminars have made me reevaluate how I think about my work—even when at first glance I do not think there is any direct connection between the two.”
