Brianna Osetinsky, PhD candidate in Health Services Research successfully defended her dissertation titled “HIV and Non-Communicable Disease: Integrated Modeling and Chronic Care in Africa”.

Brianna was awarded several fellowships during her time in the HSR Program, the 2017-2018 PSTC Trainee Fellowship and The 2015 Global Mobility Program: Graduate Research Fellowship, the latter award funding her research at AMPATH in Kenya for three months during the summer of 2015.

Tell us about your time at Brown. What did you enjoy most about being a doctoral student here?

My mentors, the HSR program, and Brown all gave me the flexibility and support to pursue the questions I was most curious about. Under my advisor's guidanceI was able to travel to conduct field workthat was formative to my dissertation,and build a multidisciplinary, multinational team of coauthors. Beginning my first summer I was able to travel to Kenya through the Global Mobility Fellowship, and later received training in mathematical modeling at Erasmus MC in the Netherlands, and returned to Kenya to finalized data for my dissertation. These trips gave me a crucial broader perspective, as well as a wonderful network of collaborators and friends. The supportive environment extended from my fellow students as well, who were unfailingly helpful, generous, and incredibly inspiring. 

What public health issues do you hope to address through your dissertation?

Chronic care needs are increasing in low and middle incomecountries as prevalenceof non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension and diabetes are increasing, and effective treatment has made HIV a chronic condition in most settings. However,  the health systems are generally ill-equipped to address this rising burden, so my dissertation aims to address several health systems development questions related to the provision of chronic care. In sub-Saharan Africa, health systems that are pivoting to include more chronic care need credible estimates of the burden of both HIV and chronic NCDs, the health effects of programs aimed at increasing NCD care delivery, and the budget impact of scaling such programs up. In my dissertation I model the growth and health systems needs of hypertension and HIV in western Kenya and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, evaluate the addition of NCD care on an established HIV care program in western Kenya, and quantify the costs and model the budget impact of adding NCD care to primary care centers and HIV clinics in western Kenya. 

Tell us about your time at Brown. What did you enjoy most about being a doctoral student here?

My mentors, the HSR program, and Brown all gave me the flexibility and support to pursue the questions I was most curious about. Under my advisor's guidance I was able to travel to conduct field work that was formative to my dissertation, and build a multidisciplinary, multinational team of coauthors. Beginning my first summer I was able to travel to Kenya through the Global Mobility Fellowship, and later received training in mathematical modeling at Erasmus MC in the Netherlands, and returned to Kenya to finalized data for my dissertation. These trips gave me a crucial broader perspective, as well as a wonderful network of collaborators and friends. The supportive environment extended from my fellow students as well, who were unfailingly helpful, generous, and incredibly inspiring. 

What public health issues do you hope to address through your dissertation?

Chronic care needs are increasing in low and middle-income countries as prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension and diabetes are increasing, and effective treatment has made HIV a chronic condition in most settings. However,  the health systems are generally ill-equipped to address this rising burden, so my dissertation aims to address several health systems development questions related to the provision of chronic care. In sub-Saharan Africa, health systems that are pivoting to include more chronic care need credible estimates of the burden of both HIV and chronic NCDs, the health effects of programs aimed at increasing NCD care delivery, and the budget impact of scaling such programs up. In my dissertation I model the growth and health systems needs of hypertension and HIV in western Kenya and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, evaluate the addition of NCD care on an established HIV care program in western Kenya, and quantify the costs and model the budget impact of adding NCD care to primary care centers and HIV clinics in western Kenya. 

This fall, Brianna takes on a new position as Postdoctoral Scientific Collaborator in the Household Economics and Health Systems Research Unit, in the Health Systems and Policy Group, at Swill Tropical and Public Health in Basel Switzerland.

Congratulations, Brianna!  

Below, Brianna's dissertation committee toasts her success and her family shares in her joy.