Dr. Wagman Receives K01 Award

URBAN ARCH congratulates Jennifer Wagman, PhD, MHS, who has been awarded a 5-year NIAAA Research Scientist Development Award (K01) entitled “Alcohol Epidemiology and Pilot Intervention to Reduce Alcohol, IPV and HIV in Women in Uganda.” Dr. Wagman, currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California – San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, has a primary interest in how harmful consumption of alcohol increases the risk for intimate partner violence, HIV risk behaviors, and HIV infection in women. She received an MHS in International Health and a PhD in Reproductive Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she learned how to conduct research to design, implement and evaluate reproductive and sexual health interventions in low-income countries.

Dr. Wagman will now work on her K01 award with Drs. Jeffrey Samet and Judy Hahn from URBAN ARCH to pilot test a screening and brief intervention (SBI) to reduce harmful alcohol use in abused women seeking HIV counseling and testing (HCT) from Rakai Health Sciences Program (RHSP), an HIV program in rural Uganda. She will also develop skills in advanced statistical analysis techniques, increase knowledge in research ethics, and publish her study findings as part of this award. The project will allow for research with a group of often understudied and undertreated women, ultimately increasing their access to needed HIV prevention and treatment services.