• “PrEP Seguro: Antiretrovial-based HIV prevention among men at high risk in Mexico” is testing the acceptability and feasibility of using conditional economic incentives to increase adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among male sex workers in Mexico City. This project supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R34MH114664) and led by Dr. Omar Galárraga.
• The “Integrated Modeling for Epidemiologic and Economic Long-Term Outcomes in Africa (inMODELA)” which aims to model the prevalence and incidence of HIV and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), quantity the effects of integrated care, and evaluate its preliminary cost-effectiveness. This work is being conducted under the auspices of the NIH (Fogarty International Center) and PEPFAR (led by Dr. Galárraga and is being conducted in Kenya and South Africa; other Brown collaborators include Lurie and McGarvey)
• In Kumasi, Ghana, Dr. Galárraga is working collaboratively with the Konfo Anoyke Teaching Hospital / Adolescent HIV Clinic to test the preliminary efficacy and feasibility of group-based conditional economic incentives to increase adherence to ART among adolescents living with HIV.
• Conditional Economic Incentives for Improving Adolescent Adherence to HIV Treatment is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (1R21AI118393, PI: Galárraga) examines the views of adolescents, parents/guardians, and healthcare providers in Cape Town, South Africa on conditional economic incentives to improve ART adherence among adolescents living with HIV; as well as implement a conjoint analysis to measure optimal attributes and levels of such programs. Drs. Harrison and Kuo are also involved in this project.
• Integrated Prevention of HIV Risk and Intimate Partner Violence among Adolescents in South Africa: This study develops and tests the acceptability and feasibility of an integrated intervention to prevent HIV and the perpetration of intimate partner violence by young men. This work is led by Dr. Caroline Kuo with Dr. Cathy Matthews at the South African Medical Research Council. 
• Harambee: Integrated Community-based HIV/NCD Care & Microfinance Groups in Kenya: This study will measure the effectiveness, mechanisms, and cost-effectiveness of an innovative HIV differentiated care model of integrated community based care into existing microfinance groups. Retention in care and sustained viral suppression are critical for ensuring that persons living with HIV live long and healthy lives and for diminishing the possibility of HIV transmission and proliferation of drug-resistant strains of HIV.​This project is led by Dr. Omar Galarraga and  is part of the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) program in western Kenya.​

Next Generation Studies of Obesity in Samoa:  Biological, Environmental and Genetic Pathways 

• Two NIH research grants support Dr. McGarvey’s Samoan research with colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh: “Integrated, cellular, mouse and human research on a novel missense variant influencing adiposity in Samoans”, which uses cell models, mice, and humans to examine the effects of a genetic variant that makes cells accumulate fate while using less energy. Another current Samoan project “Next Generation Association Studies of Adiposity in Samoans Enhanced by a Samoan-Specific Whole Genome Sequence Reference Panel” focuses on using whole genome sequenced data to better understand the biological pathways and environmental interactions that underlie the high prevalence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and related health conditions.

• In a collaboration with Nicola Hawley, PhD of Yale, Dr. McGarvey is developing Samoan-specific fetal growth references and an assessment of their diagnostic ability in order to design early life interventions to reduce the burden of obesity.

Diabetes, Chronicity and Health Literacy in Cape Town, South Africa

 Dr Sara Cooper and Dr Chris Colvin at the University of Cape Town, in collaboration with Dr Steve McGarvey, Dr Mark Lurie, and Dr Abigail Harrison at Brown School of Public Health. 

 This project addresses chronic illnesses like diabetes and hypertension among women in Cape Town, South Africa.  Based on work with a women’s group, the aim of the project is to develop strategies to improve health literacy and to understand women’s perceptions of chronic illness through the lifecourse.    

• SASH: Partnerships for the next generation of HIV social science in South Africa. This project builds on a partnership between the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa and Brown University to enhance infrastructure and research investments at UCT’s School of Public Health and Family Medicine.  Key to these efforts are the training and mentoring of 2 cohorts of SASH fellows, young South African leaders who are learning to apply social science methods to better understand the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. These investments will develop a new generation of rigorously trained HIV social scientists to address research questions of social science and public health importance, and to foster a culture of excellence in social science research on HIV/AIDS. This project is led by Lurie at Brown and Colvin, at UCT; other Brown faculty include Harrison, Kuo, Pellowski, McGarvey, Galarraga, Operario)
• Brown Moi Partnership for Biostatistics Training in HIV. Expert statistical analysis is fundamental to generating high-quality research that ultimately informs evidence-based practices used to combat HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.  The training program will expand research and curricular capacity in HIV-related biostatistics and advanced quantitative methods at Moi University by providing graduate-level training in biostatistics at Brown and workshops and faculty