2023 – 2024    Building Capacity for Integrated Family Planning, Reproductive Health, and Population, Health, Environment, and Development (PHED) Action (BUILD) 

The BUILD project is a global policy and advocacy project that aims to enhance decision-makers' understanding of the nexus of voluntary FP/RH, climate change and sustainable development. The project aims to 1) increase commitment for cross-sectoral approaches to integrated PHED in order to achieve accelerated sustainable development; and 2) strengthen individual and institutional capacity in advocacy, policy communications, and negotiations for cross-sectoral approaches. (Funder: USAID. Role: Technical Expert Lead)

2022 – 2024   Jigerduu Jarandar (Active Communities) in Kyrgyzstan  

This project is designed to advance public interest through support for community-led civic engagement. One area of identified focus is reducing gender-based violence and this is to be addressed through the development, implementation and evaluation of a norms-shifting social behavior change communication intervention. (Funder: USAID. Role: Technical Expert Lead Investigator on GBV SBC)

2022 – 2024   Harnessing Equality for Resilience in the Agrifood System (HER+) initiative

The HER+ initiative is a body of work aimed at reducing normative constraints that limit women’s economic resilience to climate change (CC) challenges. As part of this initiative, we are developing the HER+ Index to be broadly applicable across different agrifood system (AFS) contexts. Its overall goal will be to inform the design of gender transformative approaches (GTAs) to sustainably reduce normative constraints that limit women’s capacities to build economic resilience to CC challenges.  (Funder: International Food Policy Research Institute. Role: Co-Principal Investigator)

2022 – 2024   Research on Key Child Survival and Nutrition Practices in the First 1,000 Days of Life

This is a formative research study undertaken with government stakeholders and designed to obtain in-depth understanding of the influential factors for key maternal, infant, young child, and adolescent nutrition (MIYCAN), water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and health behaviors during the first 1,000 days of life in Nigeria. This study will inform the development of the next iteration of the national SBC strategy as well as future policies and programs in Nigeria.   (Funder: UNICEF. Role: Principal Investigator)

2020 – 2023  Nigeria Learning Collaborative to Advance Normative Change 

This project is designed to provide capacity-building to researchers and practitioners interested in social and behavior change initiatives that tackle social norms in Northern Nigeria. (Funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Role: Technical Expert Advisor)

2018 – 2020   Exploring Social Norms around Sexual health among single Adolescent Girls in Burundi

This formative study was designed to explore social norms related to Burundian single adolescent girls sexual and reproductive health (SRH) knowledge and practices, specifically those social norms around menstruation, sexual risk behavior, sexual violence and fertility desires and use of family planning. (Funder: USAID. Role: Principal Investigator)

2015 – 2020   PASSAGES

This project was designed to establish a body of rigorous evidence on scalable interventions and social norm mechanisms to support positive adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health outcomes. (Funder: USAID. Role: Technical Leader on Metrics and Assessment)

2016 – 2019   Global Learning Collaborative to Advance Normative Change

This project was designed to established as a platform for sharing and discussing emerging evidence, practices, and lessons learned among practitioners and investigators working in the area of normative change for adolescent sexual and reproductive health and well-being. (Funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Role: Leader of the Measurement Community)

 2012 – 2017   Empirically testing network sampling strategies in unbounded risk populations

This RO1 study aimed to use three different sampling schemes in two urban areas (Dar es Salaam and Atlanta) to describe the underlying social/sexual/drug-using network configuration for persons presumed to be at risk for HIV. (Funder: NIH. Role: Principal Investigator)

2015 – 2016       A Mixed-Methods Study of Factors Associated with IMPLANON® Removal in Ethiopia

The main goal of this research study was to assess whether women who are obtaining IMPLANON® implants are experiencing substantial barriers to having them removed in a timely fashion.  Findings from this study will be used to develop recommendations for ways in which to improve IMPLANON® service delivery and put effective post insertion follow-up mechanisms in place. (Funder: USAID. Role: Co-Investigator)

2015 – 2016 Building Healthy Communities: Learning from the Partnership for a Healthy Durham 

This case-study of the Partnership for a Healthy Durham is part of a larger project focused on building evidence that intensive efforts to change community-level policy, programs, infrastructure, systems, and environments through multi-sector collaboration can improve community health. (Funder: FHI Foundation. Role: Co-Principal Investigator)

2014 – 2015      Investigating Mobile Phone Use among Key Populations in Tanzania & Kenya

This project was designed to investigate the use of mobile phones among disadvantaged substance-using populations in Tanzania, Kenya and the U.S.(Funder: UNC CFAR. Role: Co-Principal Investigator)

2014 – 2015   Organizational Network Analysis in Durham County

This study was designed to identify and pilot test an approach to collecting, analyzing and presenting data on the network of connections between HIV testing organizations and other health and social service agencies in Durham county. (Funder: UNC CFAR. Role: Co-Principal Investigator)

2011 – 2014   Effects of Sino-Implant on Condom Use among Women in Kingston, Jamaica

A randomized clinical trial in Kingston, Jamaica designed to determine whether the use of a contraceptive implant leads to more sex unprotected by a condom, as measured by a biological marker of exposure to semen in vaginal fluid. (Funder: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Role: Lead Social Scientist)

 2011 – 2014   Market Chain Analysis of the Cross-Border Rat Trade in Vietnam and Cambodia

Under the larger PREVENT project, this exploratory study was designed to determine the typical structure of the rat trade network in Cambodia and Vietnam; and identify practices and situations that may pose a risk of disease emergence. (Funder: USAID. Role: Co- Principal Investigator)

 2006 – 2010      Sexual Behavioral Relationships and HIV Infection in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

This project was designed to evaluate the utility of sexual network analysis for identifying and targeting HIV-infected persons and their sexual partners to reduce on-going sexual transmission. (Role: Lead Behavioral Investigator)