Organization: Jhpiego
Country: Kenya
Elizabeth Irungu is Regional Technical Advisor for Implementation Science and PrEP service delivery at Jhpiego, Kenya. She received her medical degree from the University of Nairobi and has an MPH (epidemiology) and PhD (global health: implementation science) from the University of Washington, Seattle. She has over 15 years of experience conducting HIV prevention research.
Elizabeth has led and/or participated in cutting-edge multi-country HIV prevention studies, including the Partners PrEP Study, one of the clinical trials that provided registrational evidence for oral PrEP for HIV prevention. Other notable studies include the Partners Demonstration Project and the Partners Scale Up Project, which facilitated introduction of oral PrEP in Kenya. These projects have been in collaboration with the International Clinical Research Centre at the University of Washington, Seattle, and Kenya Medical Research Institute, with funding from the NIH and the Gates Foundation. Currently, she is protocol co-chair for the CATALYST study, the flagship project under MOSAIC, funded by USAID, to accelerate introduction and scale up of new and emerging biomedical prevention products, including the dapivirine vaginal ring and long-acting cabotegravir.
Elizabeth is committed to translation of research findings into policy and programmes. She has contributed in various working groups and meetings at the World Health Organization and served as co-chair for the Cabotegravir for HIV Prevention Guideline Development Group. She is a member of the PrEP technical working group in Kenya.