From the Associate Director: Dr. Temitope "Temi" Ojo

At Light, we aim to help individuals, families, and communities achieve optimal and lasting health outcomes. We are committed to creating a world where we connect, collaborate, and make a meaningful impact on health. Our focus is on making public health truly accessible through collaboration, innovation, and unwavering dedication. In this newsletter, you will find insights into our ongoing projects, stories of transformation, and opportunities for you to get involved. We welcome you to follow our journey to making the public an active voice and creator of public health.

The highly anticipated return of the annual LIGHT (Leaders Igniting Generational Healing and Transformation) Virtual Festival was held June 21 & June 22. The event started with a virtual yoga practice to ground and center the participants before the opening remarks by LIGHT co-editor, Dr. Idia Thurston. Her remarks welcomed everyone, thanking each of them for joining the conversation and being part of the work to bridge the divide between public health researchers and the public by creating opportunities to connect with one another through art, letters, stories, and poetry as lived experiences of healing and health. Over the two days, 110 individuals from around the globe attended at least one session, joining from Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, India, Netherlands, Nigeria, Malawi, South Africa, and the United States to attend the following sessions: 

Participants also tuned in for the announcement of finalists from two open call contests asking individuals across the world to share their art, letters, stories, and poetry to tell others about their experiences with cancer and how they create healthy spaces and places for themselves and others. These finalists will have their pieces included in Issue 3 and Issue 4 of the LIGHT Magazine and will be featured in the LIGHT Blog. 

The success of this event wouldn't have been possible without the support of the Festival sponsors:  Here and Next at Washington University in St. Louis, Northeastern University Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research, Northeastern University Department of Public Health and Health Sciences, Korédé House in St. Louis, and Northeastern University Africana Studies Program. On behalf of the LIGHT team at large, we look forward to continuing this conversation with all of the participants, presenters, finalists, and sponsors, both now and in the future. 

The 2024 cohort of NIH-funded STAR (Stimulating Training and Access to HIV Research Experiences) finalists started the STAR Bootcamp virtually on Monday, May 20 and have spent the last six weeks refining the innovative ideas they initially submitted to an open call in Fall 2023. The call sought ideas on promoting HIV prevention services among youth aged 13-24 in their communities. This year's cohort of STAR Scholars earned their spots at the Bootcamp by presenting their ideas to a panel of judges at the February 2024 Designathon. The judges evaluated each idea for relevance, novelty, feasibility, scalability/replicability, sustainability, and promotion of equity and fairness. 

During the Bootcamp, the Scholars met daily as a cohort and in team breakout sessions. They received mentorship and guidance from STAR program leaders and HIV, public health, and implementation science experts to finalize their demonstration projects before making their final pitches. After five weeks of virtual meetings, Scholars from Georgia State University, Northeastern University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill joined the WashU Scholars in St. Louis for a week of intensive, in-person work and learning. In St. Louis, the Scholars had the opportunity to hear from local speakers, meet with the city and county health departments, practice their pitches, and work on a collaborative demonstration project to pitch at the St. Louis City Department of Health on National HIV Testing Day, Thursday, June 27. The Scholars also enjoyed unique St. Louis experiences, such as a STL HIV Bus Tour held by the Missouri History Museum and visits to Ted Drewes. Throughout the Bootcamp, the STAR program leaders observed each Scholar gain confidence in themselves and their ideas, successfully participate in field research practices, collaborate with community-based organizations, improve their grant writing skills, and understand the importance of equity in each of these practices. 

After the Bootcamp, the STAR Scholars will continue to work with their partner community-based organizations to implement their initiatives. The STAR team and Scholars will also meet periodically in September '24, February '25, and May '25 for virtual Reflect, Explore, and Envision Lunches. During these sessions, the STARs will provide updates on their demonstration projects, their research journey as STARs, and plans for research, implementation science, and community engagement. The program is excited to see and foster future collaborations between the STARs and their communities of interest. 

The Mega Innovation Bootcamp started on Monday, June 10 for the finalists from the recent Mega Designathon, starting with one week of virtual training on community readiness assessments before going into the field the second week to experience field community readiness work first-hand.

On Monday, June 24, the finalists returned to Lagos, Nigeria to reconvene at The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) for the second half of the Mega Innovation Bootcamp: an intensive three-week experiential learning opportunity to further develop their skills and projects before making their final pitch on July 12 and 13.

While at NIMR, the participants will be learning from local and global experts on community readiness, budgeting, community engagement, qualitative and quantitative research, networking, and teamwork. In addition to these teachings, the participants will also learn from a series focusing on the role of various aspects in health (gender, culture and faith, place, and community) and an interactive series on storytelling (why it matters, who is it for, and how will it be used) to prepare them not only for their pitches, but also as they enter the field as public health leaders and advocates in their areas of focus and dedication. 

We will be sharing pictures, details of the projects, and the winners in the July edition of our monthly newsletter to recap this unique event. 

After responding to open call contest asking how communities and community-based organizations can increase and sustain uptake of vaccines for preventable cancers in Nigeria, finalist teams made up of 4-5 early career researchers will be coming together for a two-week hybrid Change Challenge event starting on July 8. The first week will be held virtually before the researchers travel to Lagos for an in-person week. This event will provide opportunities to network with others interested in similar work, learn from experts in the field, and receive coaching support as they work to finalize their proof-of-concept interventions to minimize vaccine-preventable cancer diagnoses.  

Light is excited to announce the launch the US - Nigeria Cancer Control Center in Lagos, Nigeria, on July 15, 2024. This celebratory event will be followed by the Center's inaugural training program held July 15 - 21, 2024 for early career leaders in vaccine-preventable cancers to continue building research capacity for dissemination and implementation science in cancer research in Nigeria. 

Members of the Light team at the WashU at the recent 2024 Infectious Diseases Annual Research Symposium

From left to right: Onyekachukwu Anikamadu, Emily Haglin, Dr. Juliet Iwelunmor, Chidi Okafor, Ekenechukwu Kokelu, Nkiruka Obodoechina, Dr. Temitope Ojo, Dr. Olufunto Olusanya

4 Communities By Communities

US-Nigeria Cancer Control Center for Research on Implementation Science and Equity (C3-RISE) Grant | U54 NIH/NCI #U54CA284110

The work of 4 Communities By Communities is focused on raising both awareness and vaccine uptake of two cancer-preventing vaccinations: the Human Papillomavirus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer and the Hepatitis B vaccine to prevent liver cancer.

4 Girls & Women

Actions for Collaborative Community Engaged Strategies for HPV (ACCESS-HPV) Grant | R01 NIH/NCI #R01CA271033

4 Girls & Women is driven by the shared belief that empowering the female population in Nigeria to learn about primary and secondary HPV prevention tactics will bring new voices and ideas to get us closer to a reality of widespread HPV vaccination for girls 9 - 14 years old and HPV screening for screen-eligible women to end cervical cancer. 

4 Youth By Youth

The work of 4 Youth By Youth is founded on the belief that young people have innovative and creative ideas for making their communities a healthier and safer place as they develop into adulthood. The two current 4YBY programs are focused on youth-friendly HIV self-testing and high blood pressure/stroke prevention.

Sustaining Innovative Tools to Expand Youth Friendly HIV Self-Testing (S-ITEST) Grant | UG1 NIH/NICHD #UG1HD113156

S-ITEST is a follow-up to the initial I-TEST program that started in 2018 to work with adolescents and young adults  to define, evaluate, and implement intervention strategies to address HIV through preventative behavior modifications and youth self-testing. Now almost six years later, the team has added goals to continue developing youth-inspired strategies to sustain the interventions developed and implemented to date and ensure the at-risk youth will remain uninfected with HIV, despite living in a LMIC with resource constraints.

Music4Health | Innovative Tools to Expand Music-Inspired Strategies for Blood Pressure and Stroke Prevention (I-TEST BP/STROKE) Grant | R01 NIH/NHLBI #1R01HL168766-01

Music4Health is addressing the substantial burden of hypertension and stroke in a way Nigerians know and love – through music. By inviting members of the community to share their lyrics, voices, and spirits, we provide them a platform to share their talents while raising awareness and educating the Nigerian public on heart health.

STAR

Stimulating Training and Access to Research Experiences for Minority and Underrepresented Populations (NIAID STAR) Grant | R25 NIH/NIAID #U01CA279863

STAR was developed in partnership with leaders at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgia State University, and Northeastern University to address the significant research to practice gap for HIV/AIDS by creating a path for the next generation of global majority implementation researchers.

IREACH

Innovative Rapid Enabling, Affordable, point of care HPV self-testing strategy Grant | U01 NIH/NCI #U01CA279863

The IREACH program is currently developing a single-use self-testing kit for HPV screening to increase screening eligible women in Nigeria for HPV infections. Stay tuned for exciting updates!

LIGHT

Leaders Igniting Generational Healing & Transformation

After recognizing a crucial piece of conversations about public health – the public themselves – was missing, LIGHT was designed to bring the public together to join the conversation, or in other words: Leaders Igniting Generational Healing & Transformation. Through invitations to participate in poetry and writing workshops, submit creative work to ongoing contests, join mindfulness practices, and attend the annual LIGHT Festival, the public is put at the center of public health to ignite change in public health. 

To stay up to date with the Light team, please subscribe to our monthly newsletter using the button below and keep an eye out for our website and social media updates! To learn more about Light or if you have ideas for partnership, please write to us at lightinstitute@wustl.edu.

We can't wait to hear from you!  

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