Tariro Chawana

Name: Tariro Chawana
Country: Zimbabwe
Job and qualifications: Sub-Investigator, University of Zimbabwe Clinical Trials Research Centre (UZ-CTRC). MBChB, MSc, DPhil.
Summary: Completed her DPhil Clinical Pharmacology in 2018 and wants to become an independent researcher. The title of her thesis is “Aetiology of treatment failure in HIV positive adolescents on boosted protease inhibitor-based 2nd line regimens”, and led to 9 manuscripts (7 published and 2 on the way). She is applying for a CIPHER grant to do a post-doctorate as a step towards being an independent researcher and apply for bigger grants. She would like to network with experts in adolescent studies and aim for bigger grants. Her DPhil study was quantitative and she’d like to learn about qualitative research to further her career.
Proposed output(s): She is working on 3 proposals: 1) to assess viral load outcomes in pregnant adolescents living with HIV receiving ART plus drug level-informed enhanced adherence counselling, 2) determining tenofovir exposure in infants who were exposed to tenofovir/emtricitabine in-utero for maternal pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and 3) assessing adherence to oral PrEP in women pre- and post- receipt of an HIV-vaccine. If successful, she needs guidance on study design and statistical analysis plans, and transition from junior to independent researcher.
Mentor: Dr Katherine Gill (Clinical research lead, Masiphumelele research site, Desmond Tutu Health Foundation)