Biography

I specialize in global public health communication, particularly as it relates to HIV/AIDS and young people in sub-Saharan Africa, and in qualitative research on gender, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. In 1996, I was part of a group that initiated an HIV/AIDS communication process called “Scenarios from Africa” (www.globaldialogues.org). This involves the production of short fiction films on HIV-related subjects by top African directors. The films are based on winning ideas thought up by young people in a series of scriptwriting contests. Between 1997 and 2008, around 150,000 young people from 47 African countries took part in Scenarios from Africa contests. Thirty-seven short fiction films are currently available (www.youtube.com/user/scenariosafrica; www.scenariosfilms.com). The films are donated to African television stations and are widely broadcast. Available in over 27 languages, they are also used extensively as educational resources at community level. To date, the Scenarios from Africa process has generated an archive of over 50,000 narratives on HIV written by young Africans over a critical 15-year period in the epidemic. With my research team, I analyze these narratives to better understand factors influencing both cross-national differences in young Africans’ social representations of HIV/AIDS and changes in these representations over time. We are applying these research findings in the development of innovative HIV communication programming. 

I have recently been responsible for the development of a case-based core course in Global Health (GH500 – Critical Issues in Global Health) which all incoming RSPH students will be required to take, starting in fall 2011. I was delighted to be voted Professor of the Year by the RSPH Student Government Association in 2009