This fall, Lusajo Kajula, PhD, Tanzanian international scholar in health behavior and psychology for adolescents and families, has joined the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health as the school’s first Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence. In her role, Kajula will use her experiences in global health to educate students on an “ecological model,” which helps public health experts make sense of the social, political and individual factors that influence health behaviors. She will also continue her work in adolescent and reproductive health while collaborating with the Durham County Health Department on ways to engage local communities in public health programs and outreach.
“Moving public health to global health means understanding that we are all the same,” Kajula said. “The goal, whether through teaching or community engagement, is to help people think globally. You don’t always have to start something afresh if somebody else has done it already – you can adapt it to fit your needs.” Her work at Carolina is also the extension of a decades-long partnership and friendship with Suzanne Maman, PhD, professor of health behavior and associate dean for global health at the Gillings School. The two first began working together on HIV prevention research in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1999. Their collaborations have produced funded research and intervention programs on global health topics that include treatment and prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, intimate partner violence prevention, and adolescent reproductive health – all centralized around regions in Eastern Africa. Kajula’s path to public health has taken her through four continents. She grew up in Tanzania. She followed her interest in the sciences, entered an undergraduate program in psychology in India. She has master’s degrees from Bergen, Norway and a PhD in Health Behavior from Maastricht, Netherlands. See the full article on Dr. Lusajo Kajula’s time at UNC
She will present on “Using Implementation Science Research to Link Stakeholders and Vulnerable AGYW in Tanzania with HIV Prevention and Livelihood Training” for the November Global Health Forum – November 27, 2023, Bondurant 2025, 12-1 PM
RSVP by 12 noon on Wednesday, Nov 22 to get a lunch. We will also host it live on zoom if you cannot attend in person – https://zoom.us/j/3111814366
