Zambia

In 2012, the UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases recruited a large research team who are working in Zambia. Their research and clinical activities are based in Lusaka at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ).

The Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia has been an active partner of the Zambian Ministry of Health since 2001, working to improve public health services across the country. An independent local NGO, CIDRZ affiliates with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to implement and evaluate public health interventions that will directly benefit those in sub-Saharan Africa. Our five core areas of focus are: adult and pediatric HIV prevention, care, and treatment; maternal and child health (including childhood immunizations); tuberculosis control; primary health care; and cancer prevention and treatment, with a focus on gynecologic cancers.

Mission

CIDRZ’s mission is to provide access to quality healthcare through community empowerment, exceptional research, and effective sustainable public health programmes in Zambia and sub-Saharan Africa. CIDRZ has forged strong relationships with the Zambian Ministry of Health, the University of Zambia School of Medicine, and other in-country partners.

In pursuit of this mission, CIDRZ leads clinical care, research, and training initiatives in the following fields:

  • HIV care, treatment, and prevention, including PMTCT
  • Tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment
  • Cancer prevention and treatment, with emphasis on gynecologic cancers
  • Quality improvement in primary care
  • Obstetrics and gynecology
  • Safe motherhood
  • Obstetrical fistula prevention and treatment
  • Adult medicine
  • Pediatrics
  • Childhood immunization
  • Epidemiology
  • Nursing
  • Laboratory Science

Key Faculty

Jeff Stringer, MD
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Co-founder and former CEO, CIDRZ

Groesbeck Parham, MD
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Director, Cervical Cancer Prevention Program, CIDRZ

Charles Holmes, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Obstetrics and Gynecology
CEO, CIDRZ

Benjamin Chi, MD
Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Chief Scientific Officer and Director, Global Women’s Health Fellowship Program, CIDRZ

Stewart Reid, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
Director, TB and Antiretroviral Scale-up Programs, CIDRZ

Carolyn Bolton, MBBCh, MSc
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Chief Medical Officer, CIDRZ

Carla Chibwesha, MD, MSc
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Cherry Liu, MD
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology