Training in HIV Genomics, Treatment, and Cure Research in Botswana

ABSTRACT The goal of our parent D43 training grant is to provide training in research focused on HIV treatment, HIV cure, and HIV genomics research at the Botswana Harvard Health Partnership (BHP), building on advances in clinical trial and laboratory research infrastructure at BHP that support training opportunities in high-impact HIV

research. This supplement would support two MD trainees in Botswana to conduct two mentored research projects that focus on different understudied aspects of the health of older women with HIV, a large and growing group of people living with HIV globally. The first aim (led by mentee Dr. Unoda Chakalisa, primary

mentor Dr. Shahin Lockman) would compare key attributes of menopause in older women with vs. without HIV in Botswana in a new cross-sectional population of women in Botswana. The second aim (led by Dr. Marcella Yoseph, primary mentor Dr. Roger Shapiro) would compare pregnancy incidence and adverse pregnancy

outcomes by age group and by HIV status by leveraging the very large (292,000 existing records, approximately 21% of them from women living with HIV) nationwide Botswana Tsepamo birth outcomes database. This mentored research will help catalyze the training and career development of these two promising trainees who are interested in conducting research that will improve the health of women living with

HIV.