Rwanda Zambia HIV Research Group

The principal research objectives of RZHRG are to uncover factors relating to HIV risk and transmission, to gain a better understanding of how to prevent the spread of HIV, and to improve the quality of life among HIV infected African adults. To achieve these goals, the project sites in Kigali, Rwanda, and Lusaka, Ndola, and Kitwe, Zambia operate couples’ voluntary counseling and testing (CVCT) centers where couples receive education about HIV/AIDS, free testing for HIV, and pre- and post-test counseling. Couples eligible for ongoing studies are invited to participate in follow-up research and provided with free outpatient reproductive health care and treatment of infectious diseases.

Until an effective HIV vaccine is found, prevention of new infections in African adults must rely on behavioral interventions. RZHRG and its many collaborators first published the beneficial impact of CVCT on risk reduction in African couples in 1991 but widespread implementation of VCT was delayed 10 years by a variety of controversies. There is now consensus that VCT is an effective prevention strategy, and that the impact of this strategy is greatest in the world’s largest risk group: African cohabiting couples.

The RZHRG same-day couples’ VCT programs were intended to be a screening tool to identify HIV discordant heterosexual couples (one partner HIV positive and the other HIV negative) for prevention, pathogenesis, and vaccine evaluation research. In the process, RZHRG’s research sites in Rwanda and Zambia have accrued the largest couples’ VCT cohorts in the world. RZHRG continues to research the best ways to deliver CVCT, and to provide leadership in the dissemination of best practices in VCT for couples. RZHRG’s researchers have led by example as they have developed and tested interventions, and as a result of their findings, directly impacted public health practice. It has also been the privilege of Dr. Allen and the rest of the RZHRG team to develop collaborative relationships with colleagues from all over the world, to provide internships to more than 85 US and European trainees, and to bring 19 African colleagues through Masters in Public Health degree training in the United States and England. Although the majority of the project’s research has been sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health, over the years RZHRG has also been funded by a dozen other international, bilateral and non-governmental development and research organizations.

Dr. Susan Allen, MD MPH DTM&H

Born in Venezuela and later raised in Brazil and Lebanon, Dr. Allen’s passion for working in developing countries came at an early age. After returning to the United States and completing an undergraduate degree in chemistry and medical degree from Duke University, Dr. Allen joined the University of California in San Francisco residency program. While in California, Dr. Allen also completed her Masters of Public Health degree at UC Berkeley. In the 18 years since completing her medical training, she has primarily lived and worked in Africa conducting HIV research. Dr. Allen’s research efforts span the policy, socio-demographic, behavioral, clinical, and laboratory aspects of HIV and related conditions. This work began with observational studies, and progressed to clinical trials as the epidemic evolved. The RZHRG projects have focused on questions of local relevance and provided health care and prevention services to thousands of study participants.

Dr. Allen’s career goal is to continue research on HIV in Africa with an emphasis on feasible prevention interventions and low cost therapeutic strategies that prolong and improve quality of life for the largest at-risk group for HIV in Africa—married couples. In deference to the world’s most pressing challenge—a rapidly rising ratio of humans-to-resources—RZHRG’s behavioral and policy research will continue to focus on the mutual reinforcement of family planning and HIV prevention goals. These studies will continue to be implemented through the two research projects founded and directed by Dr. Allen: Projet San Francisco (PSF) in Kigali, Rwanda, and the Zambia-Emory HIV Research Project (ZEHRP) in Zambia.

In addition to her investigative work, Dr. Allen is also a Professor of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, with a joint appointment in Epidemiology. Secondary appointments include the School of Medicine, (Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease), and Department of Pathology.