Building the future
…of global public health
Current Fellows
ALEXANDER FURUYA, MPH
Alexander Furuya (he/him) is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and a fourth-year pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship. Mr. Furuya applies biostatistical methods to quantify the effects of social determinants of health on HIV prevention and care outcomes. His current projects include analyzing data from the Community Health Advisory & Information Network (CHAIN) cohort study. His research has contributed to findings relating to incarceration, social connectedness, and sexual violence to HIV outcomes. Mr. Furuya received an MPH in Biostatistics in 2023 from Columbia University. His research mentor is Dr. Dustin Duncan.
Shukri A. Hassan, MPH
Shukri A. Hassan, (she/her), is a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and a first-year pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training (T32) Fellowship. Her research interests include HIV implementation science, long-acting antiretroviral therapy and PrEP, and reproductive health integration, with a focus on health equity among adolescents and marginalized populations in sub-Saharan Africa and immigrant communities in the United States. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, Ms. Hassan spent over four years working on NIH-funded HIV research across Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, and Eswatini, contributing to studies on long-acting antiretroviral therapy and PrEP delivery, reproductive health integration, and adolescent and youth-focused HIV prevention and treatment. Ms. Hassan received a BS in Public Health – Global Health and a BA in Medical Anthropology from the University of Washington, and an MPH in Epidemiology in 2025 from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
NODAR KIPSHIDZE, MPH, MS
Nodar Kipshidze (he/him) is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and third-year pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship. Previously, he was a postgraduate associate in the Pitzer Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, where he used mathematical models to simulate and estimate the cost-effectiveness of various vaccine interventions for typhoid fever in both routine and outbreak settings. He was also a senior research analyst at the One Health Trust, where he explored the drivers of continued mpox persistence in the U.S. following the 2022 outbreak, using an agent-based network model. Additionally, Mr. Kipshidze collaborated on several methods projects, such as using neural networks for forecasting respiratory disease burden, incorporating exogenous processes into ODE-type epidemic models, and reconstructing synthetic populations for agent-based models. Lastly, he has a 7-year tenure leading global clinical programs in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Mr. Kipshidze received a BA in English in 2015 from Franklin & Marshall College, an MPH in Global Health in 2017 from New York University and an MS in Epidemiology in 2023 from Columbia University. His research mentor is Dr. Wan Yang.
ELISE MARA, MPH
Elise Mara (she/her) is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and a fourth-year pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship. Ms. Mara’s research focuses on applying innovative methods to describe and predict antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence using routinely collected data, with the aim of guiding future interventions to help people with HIV remain on treatment. Her dissertation will involve examining and predicting treatment noncontinuity patterns for people enrolled on ART at PEPFAR-supported sites in Mozambique. She also collaborated with Dr. Susie Hoffman on an analysis of trajectories of change in PrEP readiness score across an intervention to increase PrEP uptake among young South African women, which was presented as a poster at the HIVR4P conference in October 2024 and has been accepted for publication. Prior to her doctoral studies, Ms. Mara worked for the San Francisco Department of Public Health as a surveillance epidemiologist. Ms. Mara received a BS in Biological Sciences with a Pre-Medical certificate in 2014 from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and an MPH in Epidemiological Methods and Applications in 2016 from the University of Michigan. Ms. Mara’s research mentors are Dr. Bill Reidy and Dr. Mary Ann Chiasson.
SHANYAH MITCHELL, MPH
Shanyah Mitchell (she/hers) is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and a third-year pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship. She is interested in understanding the impact of care access on infectious disease transmission and individual and community-level health outcomes. She is also interested in how social and behavioral factors alter care uptake and engagement patterns in contexts where . Ms. Mitchell has conducted research under the supervision of Dr. Delivette Castor using Population-based HIV Impact Assessment data from Lesotho to perform analyses focusing on the impact of anti-retroviral medication coverage guideline expansions on the average CD4 cell count among individuals living with HIV between 2016 to 2020. Under Dr. Castor’s supervision she has also begun working on an analysis to examine how demographic, behavioral, and partnership patterns differ amongst men with and without adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) partners, and how differences may impact HIV risk. She has also worked alongside collaborators on the Community Health Advisory & Information Network (CHAIN) study to understand patterns of service need and utilization among people with HIV in New York City and the region of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties. Ms. Mitchell received a BA in Biological Sciences and Classics from Cornell University in 2022 and an MPH in Epidemiology with a certificate in Infectious Disease Epidemiology in 2024 from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Her research mentor is Dr. Mary Ann Chiasson.
Isadora Salles, MHS
Isadora Salles (she/her) is a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and a first-year pre-doctoral fellow in the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship. Her interests are at the intersection of TB/HIV epidemiology, migration, and geospatial methods. She is particularly interested in how population mobility affects TB/HIV testing, care access, delivery, and retention, and how spatial and implementation science methods can help identify gaps and improve care continuity for mobile populations. Prior to her doctoral studies, Ms. Salles worked as a senior biostatistician at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Tuberculosis Research. She led data management and analysis for multi-country clinical trials and implementation studies spanning TB treatment, prevention, diagnostics, and care delivery among people living with HIV and other priority populations. Her work included serving as protocol data manager for SMILE-TB, a phase 3 pediatric TB treatment trial within the SMART4TB consortium, and working on studies within IMPAACT4TB and other global TB research programs. Ms. Salles received a BA in Public Health Studies and Romance Languages from Johns Hopkins University and an MHS in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, with a Certificate in Humanitarian Health, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
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 felt very supported in my mentor/mentee relationship and I was given formative opportunities to engage with diverse research teams.”
“A highlight of the fellowship was how the faculty-fellow seminars made me reevaluate how I thought about my work—even when at first glance I did not think there was any direct connection between the two.”