WashU was recently awarded a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant to establish the new INSPIRE Center, led by Dr. Elvin Geng and Dr. Juliet Iwelunmor from WashU and Dr. Joseph Tucker at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

The INSPIRE Center was developed as part of the Prevention and Treatment through a Comprehensive Care Continuum for HIV-affected Adolescents in Resource-Constrained Settings Network (PATC3H-IN) and is dedicated to developing and sustaining evidence-based interventions to reduce HIV inequities for adolescents and young adults in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. 

“We’re looking beyond barriers and tapping into the potential assets that already exists within these adolescents and young people themselves. Our work is about elevating their insights as well as those of key partners often under-represented in research to foster a lasting change that improves health outcomes for millions of young people.”

Juliet Iwelunmor, PhD

In 1988, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) created the Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) program to address the AIDS epidemic. Since then, 20 CFARs have been established across the United States. The new Midwest D-CFAR is a “developmental CFAR,” starting as a five-year pilot, preparing systems and processes to align with the standard CFAR programs across the country and develop a strong network of HIV researchers and activists in our region. 

The Light Institute is excited to be connected with this C-FAR, as our very own Dr. Juliet Iwelunmor serves as Center & Dissemination and Implementation Science Core Co-Director.

To learn more about Midwest D-CFAR, please visit the following links: 

On Monday, September 23, more than 100 researchers, public health practitioners and professionals, advocates, and community partners gathered at the Cortex Innovation Community to celebrate and support the launch of Midwest D-CFAR! During this event, leaders from D-CFAR, WashU, Harris-Stowe State University, St. Louis University, and St. Louis City Department of Health spoke about their work to date, upcoming initiatives, and the importance of addressing HIV together. 

The NIH-funded Stimulating Training and Access to HIV Research Experiences (STAR) Grant provides training and experiential learning opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students at WashU, University of North Carolina, Northeastern University, and Georgia State University committed to becoming leaders in the next generation of HIV researchers and implementation scientists.

Individuals and groups with an innovative idea to prevent HIV and passion for research and giving young people from diverse backgrounds a voice as a leader, activist, and change maker in the field of HIV prevention in their communities are encouraged to apply for the multi-phased research program. We encourage you to please share this exciting opportunity with any students you think would be interested in becoming a STAR Scholar! 

We invite all students at  the participating institutions to respond as individuals or groups to the open call contest asking, “How might we work with community organizations to promote HIV prevention services among youth aged 13-24 years old in your community?"

Accepted applicants will spend three days in the STAR Designathon: a participatory action research event for participants to meet with and learn from mentors and experts in the field to refine their innovative research project. On the final day, participants will pitch their idea to a panel of judges in hopes to advance to the next phase and be inducted as STAR Scholars.

STAR Scholars will spend six weeks in the innovation bootcamp starting in May 2025. The first five weeks of the bootcamp are held virtually, providing an intensive and comprehensive training in implementation science, crowdsourcing, leadership, grant writing, partnering with community based organizations, HIV prevention, and the pursuit of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in all current and future work. The final week of the bootcamp is held in-person on the WashU campus and provides real-world opportunity for the Scholars to meet live with experts and leaders while further refining and polishing their intervention research project. 

Once a STAR Scholar, always a STAR Scholar!

After the bootcamp concludes, the STAR Scholars continue to receive support as they return home and implement their research projects within their local community with local partners. STAR Scholars also remain engaged through regular check-ins and virtual social gatherings with program leadership and their peers, providing updates on their demonstration projects, current and upcoming research, and community engagement opportunities. 

The Youth 4 Health (Y4H) team is leading a project to empower under-represented minority youth to take charge of innovative self-testing strategies, aiming to put young people at the forefront of testing advocacy and awareness, fighting COVID-19 disparities, and reducing transmission in vulnerable communities by recruiting individuals between the ages of 18-24 living in Missouri, Texas, or New York and identify as members of racial or ethnic minority groups to participate in the Y4H Youth-Led COVID-19 Revolution testing campaign.  

Individuals meeting the qualifying criteria can register to participate using this link. Once their registration is processed, an FDA-approved COVID-19 self-testing kit will be sent to the participant at the mailing address provided and a short instructional video will be emailed to help the participants prepare for self-testing. 

Four weeks after receiving the self-testing kit, participants will be sent a follow up survey with questions about their COVID-19 testing in the past 30 days and their experience with the Y4H testing campaign. After submitting this survey, participants will be sent a $25.00 Amazon gift card as a thank you for their time and efforts to increase testing in our communities. 

We are hoping to have at least 400 people participate in this study so please share with any individuals or groups you think may be interested in joining this initiative. For any questions, please contact us at lightinstitute@wustl.edu. 

The Light Institute is thrilled to announce Dr. Oliver Ezechi will be spending a week at WashU as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar. Dr. Ezechi is one of the PIs on five of Light's grant-funded programs, providing his insights, support, and partnership - all of which has significantly contributed to the success of each of the programs and the reach of the impact. 

Dr. Ezechi is currently the Director of Research at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, a Professor of Public Health at Lead City University, and an Adjunct Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Calabar. He is the Founding Director of the Centre for Reproduction and Population Health Studies, and also leads NIMR's HIV Treatment Center serving and caring for over 25,000 patients since 2002. 

While in St. Louis, Dr. Ezechi will spend time with leaders, faculty, and medical and public health departments across WashU, present at Grand Rounds, meet with research teams and collaborators, network during a fireside chat, and give an exclusive lecture to WashU faculty, staff, and students. 

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.

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