Celebrating achievements...
CAPRISA celebrates the graduation of 6 Staff and 8 Fellows in April. There were 4 PhDs, 6 Master’s, 1 medical undergraduate degree and 4 honours degrees. Colisile Mathonsi de-serves special mention for completing her Master’s in Medical Science summa cum laude.
Dr Nesri Padayatchi showed that early initiation of ART in HIV patients with drug resistant tuberculosis significantly reduced mortaliy. Xpert MTB/RIF, a new TB diagnostic tool, reduced the time to MDR-TB treatment from 3 months to 3 weeks and Clofazimine improved culture conversion
Dr Kogie Naidoo’s study assessed and identified strategies to overcome clinical and programmatic challenges when integrating HIV and TB care to reduce co-infection mortality. The study provides important evidence for policy and clinical management of patients with HIV and TB co-infection.
Dr Sinaye Ngcapu’s study focussed on the influence of injectable hormone contraceptive use on risk for HIV infection in the context of a heterosexual epidemic in South Africa; and the potentially confounding effect of DMPA (also known as Depo-Provera) use in prevention research. Dr Ngcapu demonstrated that injectable HC use down-modulates expression of specific chemokines, adaptive cytokines and growth factors in the female genital tract.
Dr Navisha Dookie’s study has contributed to understanding the dynamics of antimicrobial re-sistance and the complexity of the mechanisms mediating drug resistance in M.tuberculosis strains circulating in our setting.