We at Light are excited for a full and transformative 2025. On this last day of cervical cancer awareness month, we are excited to embark on a journey to engage policymakers in Nigeria on the need to advocate for vaccine preventable cancer policies, of which HPV-related cervical cancer is one. Members of the Light team met up with officials at the Ministry of Health in preparation for the key policymakers and partners meeting in early February, which kicks off discussions around vaccine preventable cancer policies.

Stay tuned for more updates as we embark on this journey in the new year. Thank you for your support in 2024 and for staying on with us as 2025 unfolds. 

The Light Institute is excited to share the clinical trials will be starting soon for ACCESS, I-TEST BP/STROKE, S-ITEST, and C3RISE! Members of the Light team are currently in Nigeria to prepare for the start of the trials, collaborating with local partners and conducting trainings. These trials have sites in the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, where our partnering research facilitators and supervisors will actively engage our communities of focus (mothers, daughters, youth, adult caregivers, and families) and enroll them to participate in the community-driven interventions that were co-designed with the Light team and our partners during the 2024 designathons and bootcamps.

While each trial varies slightly depending on the project, the clinical trials will follow participants for 6 to 24 months. Our partnering research teams at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, and St. Louis University will provide ongoing training and mentorship to our field researchers, recruitment and retention of participants, and data collection as the interventions are implemented within the communities. 

The Change Challenge Scholars have already had a busy 2025! The new year stated with two virtual opportunities for the Scholars. The first was a guest lecture given by Wake Forest University's Kristie Foley, PhD on developing an implementation blueprint and writing abstracts for submission to academic conferences, and the second was a conversational webinar with Wake Forest University's Ucheoma Nwaozuru, PhD and WashU Doctoral student, Onyeka Anikamadu sharing their experience with writing and submitting grants. The Scholars enjoyed both sessions and are currently working together to write two new grants for submission later this year.

For everyone in the St. Louis area, we invite you to join Dr. Juliet and LIGHT Magazine on Sunday, February 2 at the St. Louis Art Museum for Family Sunday!

Dr. Juliet be leading an interactive and engaging session titled “The Art of the Headwrap for Mental Wellness” exploring Nnem Nnem headwraps, and a storytelling session celebrating African headscarves and traditional African tales.

We hope to see you there! 

The Light Institute kicked off the new year with an all-day retreat at Korédé House in St. Louis. On Friday, January 17, the Light team started our retreat with a yoga practice to center and ground us before digging into a delicious breakfast and sharing everything we were grateful for in 2024. After each person had the opportunity to share, we reflected on everything we accomplished during our first full year at WashU Medicine and couldn't believe just how much we were able to pack into the year and all of the people we were able to partner with over the past 12 months.  

Dr. Temi Ojo facilitated a discussion using the mission and vision of the Light Institute to guide our plan to continue growing as a team, as individuals, and our grant-funded projects. Dr. Temi also facilitated a goal setting workshop, allowing each member of the team to set goals for themselves and work together on goals the team can share and work toward together.  

The 2025 – 2026 cohort of STAR Scholars are preparing to come together for the STAR Designathon held February 7-9 for the 19 accepted Scholars. This cohort has students from the four partnering institutions – WashU, Georgia State University, Northeastern University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – and are excited to come together with the STAR mentors and judges to further refine their ideas. We will plan to introduce the STAR Scholars and share a recap of the event in our February newsletter.  

The Midwest D-CFAR is working to foster collaborations between academics, public health practitioners, and people affected by HIV to end the epidemic locally. Missouri was identified as one of seven priority states in the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the US (EHE) initiative coordinated by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Partners 4 Health is thrilled to be part of this important work!

The recent Open Call asking for bold ideas to create a future free of HIV through strong partnerships has ended and the panel of esteemed judges are currently reviewing the submissions to identify exceptional ideas based on innovation, relevance to ending the HIV epidemic goals in Missouri, and feasibility to implement.

On February 7, all candidates are invited to a meet-and-greet event at Korédé House where they will learn which ideas were identified as the top three and advancing to the design phase with opportunity for seed funding and ongoing mentorship while implementing interventions to create a future without HIV in the state of Missouri. Look for our February newsletter to read about the event and the ideas! 

LIGHT is thrilled to be kicking off the next Open Call tomorrow, February 1! 

Building healthier communities, working for a better tomorrow, and ensuring the well-being for all begins with trust. Trust is a cornerstone of public health, influencing an individual’s willingness to seek and maintain care, follow medical advice, engage in advocacy and preventative measures, participate in sustainable practices, and improve individual and community health, ultimately impacting health promotion, disease prevention, mental wellbeing, sustainable change, and the like. With this in mind, the LIGHT open call is focused on building trust in public health, and we are excited to start receiving submissions through May 1, 2025. 

To learn more about the Open Call or to submit your artwork, letters, stories, or poetry, sharing how we might build public health systems that are trustworthy, please visit light4ph.org/contest/ once it is live on February 1. 

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

From left to right: Onyekachukwu Anikamadu, Emily Miller, 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 #5R25AI170379-04

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!

INSPIRE

Innovative Network on the Science and Practice of Implementation, Research, and Engagement Center Grant| UM2 NIH/NICHD #UM2HD116395-01

The INSPIRE Center aims to advance D&I science for HIV interventions targeting adolescents and young adults (AYA) in low- and middle-income countries. Through a collaborative network (PATC3H-IN), INSPIRE works to optimize research on adapting, scaling, and sustaining evidence-based HIV prevention and treatment strategies across six African countries, focusing on community engagement, capacity building, and advanced methods. The Center's work will bridge gaps in HIV care for AYA by leveraging implementation science to improve health outcomes, reduce inequities, and inform global efforts to end the HIV epidemic.

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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