CIRA bids a fond farewell to two of our pre and post-doctoral fellows, while we also welcome three new scholars to our Yale AIDS Prevention Training Program (Y-APT), directed by Dr. Trace Kershaw. We pass on our warmest congratulations to Dan Bromberg and DeAnne Turner on their next adventures and wish them well!
We look forward to retaining strong connections to our fellows and to hearing more about their future research. Joining continuing Y-APT fellows - Gamji Abubakari, Marie-Fatima Hyacinth, Eric Layland, Tony Maiolatesi, Debbie Vitalis, and Shannon Whittaker - please welcome our new fellows!
Lyu Azbel, PhD
Dr. Azbel earned a PhD in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2020. Since then, they have worked as a Postdoctoral Associate in the Yale AIDS program at the School of Medicine. Dr. Azbel's research provides insights into how medical interventions are made up within local health practices. They use qualitative methods to unpack the social relations of treatment, especially where drug use, infectious diseases, and incarceration intersect. Their work provides insight into how to tackle some of the most stubborn impasses to implementing harm reduction interventions at the heart of the world's fastest growing HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The theoretical takeaways from their research generate a space where new forms of treatment are possible. Dr. Azbel's mentor is Dr. Rick Altice.
Catherine Chantre, MSc
Catherine Chantre is a first year PhD student in Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. Her main research interests are HIV/TB implementation science in low and middle income countries, specifically, improving men's entrance and retention in the HIV/TB care cascade. She is also interested in the nexus of violence and health, and infection control in fragile settings. Her mentor is Dr. Luke Davis.
Before coming to Yale, Catherine spent several years conducting and supporting research as part of the iALARM study team at the University of Cape Town. Her research focused on mens' barriers to HIV/TB care among a racial minority population in the Cape Town area. During this time, Catherine also completed her MSc Control of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She also recently completed a position as a research associate at George Washington University, coordinating an mHealth study on increasing retention in care for people living with HIV in the DC area.
Gabe Murchison, PhD, MPH
Dr. Gabe Murchison (he/him) is a postdoctoral fellow in CIRA's Yale AIDS Prevention Training Program (Y-APT). His research addresses sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and substance use among adolescents and young adults. A primary goal of his work is to identify and intervene on the multiple pathways by which anti-LGBTQ stigma, in combination with racism, sexism, and ableism, may contribute to disparities in adolescent/young adult interpersonal violence victimization and problematic substance use. Methodologically, he is interested in applying models that address complex causal scenarios (e.g., intermediate confounding) to interpersonal violence and health disparities research.
Dr. Murchison received a PhD in Population Health Sciences from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an MPH in Social & Behavioral Sciences from the Yale School of Public Health. He previously worked for a national LGBTQ advocacy organization, where he managed survey research projects and incorporated research findings into public education efforts, with a focus on issues affecting LGBTQ youth. His mentor is Dr. John Pachankis.
Over the coming months the fellows will be engaging with individual CIRA cores with a view to participating fully in the CIRA community. Please join us in welcoming our new colleagues and making them feel at home!
Published: Monday, July 19, 2021
