Our Work

Associate
Health Policy and Management

I am an Associate in the HPM department and am currently doing qualitative work around tobacco health warning labels and their rotation for the Institute on Global Tobacco Control (IGTC). The first part of this project was published in a special tobacco control issue for PAHO. We are continuing this work, funded by the Bloomberg Initiative with a qualitative follow-up. I am currently using semi-structured interviewing with both government officials and civil society members from several countries worldwide and will be coding them on MAXQDA. 

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Assistant Research Professor
International Health

I am Chair of the Qualitative Methods Sub-team for the HIV Implementation Science Coordination Initiative’s ‘Identifying Optimal Rapid START Implementation Strategies to End the HIV Epidemic in the U.S: A Preparatory Study’ (PI: Schwartz) funded by the Division of AIDS (DAIDS), U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), U.S. National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). We are utilizing participatory mapping, focus group discussions and interviews integrated in a mixed-methods approach to inform strategies to scale-up implementation of rapid Status neutral antiretroviral therapy across the US.  

I am leading human-centered design research approaches, in-depth interviews, cognitive interviews, and/or focus group discussions in studies to: 1) inform implementation of HIV treatment and sustained engagement support among people returning into HIV care after disengagement in Zambia (PI: Mody, Funder: NIMH); 2) integrate a problem management-based mental health approach into an HIV-stigma-reducing intervention among Zambian youth (PI: Denison, Funder: NIH); 3) tailor a promising, lay-delivered evidence-based mental health intervention to support pregnant and postpartum women with HIV in Kenya (PIs: Abuogi, Onono, Turan, funder: NIH).   

I am leading participatory mapping and strategy development discussions to specify implementation strategies and opportunities for long-acting, injectable Cabotegravir HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis to optimize HIV prevention among adolescent and young adults in Zambia (PI: Beres, Funder: NIMH).  

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Research Associate 
International Health 

I have an NIH-funded CFAR supplement conducting in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with Urban Native Americans in Baltimore and Boston through the Center for Indigenous Health. 

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Assistant Research Professor
Health, Behavior and Society

Project title: Identifying Opportunities for a Multi‐Level PrEP Navigation Program for Female Sex Workers Living in the Dominican Republic 

Principal Investigator: Tahilin Sanchez Karver, PhD, MPH 

Project description: Using observational and qualitative research approaches, the purpose of this project is to conduct a systems analysis of the current pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) program infrastructure in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (DR), and identify opportunities for the development and integration of a multi-level PrEP navigation and support program for cisgender female sex workers (FSWs). In Aim 1, we will examine the current delivery of PrEP services within a diverse group of healthcare facilities in Santo Domingo, DR, and map FSWs pathway through these clinical care spaces. In Aim 2, we will conduct qualitative in-depth interviews with clinical care providers/staff and FSWs engaged and not currently engaged with PrEP to explore the feasibility and acceptability of establishing a multi-level PrEP systems navigation and support program for FSWs in healthcare facilities offering PrEP services in Santo Domingo, DR. Findings from this project will demonstrate the central role of a PrEP navigation and support program in augmenting access, uptake and adherence of PrEP among FSWs, and assess the challenges and opportunities that may exist to implementation. 

Funding: JHU CFAR Scholar Award, Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research (P30AI094189) 

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Assistant Professor
International Health

We are using focus group discussions with a nominal group technique activity and in-depth interviews with a pile sort activity to learn about the Elders’ Resilience Curriculum (ERC), an upstream suicide prevention program designed and implemented by the White Mountain Apache Tribe. We aim to gather a variety of community perspectives about the ERC from community mental health specialists, youth, Elders involved with the ERC, tribal leaders, schoolteachers, and caregivers of youth (NIMH; 1K01MH122702; PI: O’Keefe). In a separate project, we are conducting semi-structured, in-depth interviews with Indigenous youth and adults across the US/Canada to learn about intergenerational connectedness. Interview data will inform the development of a measure of intergenerational connectedness (JHU Catalyst Award; PI: O’Keefe). 

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Associate Professor
Health, Behavior and Society

I am a medical anthropologist with expertise in qualitative research methods and using qualitative methods to understand how organizational context affects uptake and implementation of evidence-based programs. I have conducted NIH-funded research since 2007 and have been the Principal Investigator of 6 NIH-funded research projects in the United States and Ukraine that have incorporated qualitative methods into their approaches. In addition, I have been a co-Investigator on numerous domestic and international projects as the lead qualitative researcher, including several South Africa-based projects that use implementation science and qualitative methods to improve HIV treatment adherence for formerly incarcerated PLWH, ex-inmates with histories of substance use disorder, and tuberculosis treatment access and adherence. I am also the lead qualitative researcher on a project designed to improve the uptake of palliative care among African American people with advanced cancer. I am also a member of the Health Experiences Research Network, a partnership between researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Johns Hopkins University, Oregon Health & Science University, Yale University, University of New Mexico, University of Utah-Salt Lake City, and the Veterans Administration. I teach several qualitative methods and analysis classes, including Introduction to Qualitative Data Analysis for Public Health, Theory and Practice in Qualitative Data Analysis and Interpretation for the Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Ethnographic Fieldwork. 

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Assistant Professor
International Health

I have several qualitative research projects, including: 

• An evaluation of the Human Needs Projects’ Kibera Town Center in Nairobi, Kenya, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies – we will use a case study design, collecting data through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. 

• Reducing the health equity gap for marginalized communities in Chandigarh India by leveraging digital health interventions, funded by JHU Alliance for a Healthier World – we will co-crate an intervention with health system and community stakeholders and conduct monitoring and evaluation using a comparative case study design (in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, participatory action research) 

• Technical support for the Mastercard Foundation, funded by the Mastercard Foundation – we will use qualitative data collection methods to conduct stakeholder and landscaping analyses. 
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Senior Research Associate 
International Health

I am currently a co-investigator on a study to gather qualitative data to explore gender differences in health and health system experiences and outcomes of post-acute sequalae of COVID-19 (PASC or long COVID) with the aim to provide recommendations for improving women’s and men’s healthcare, seeking behavior, diagnosis, and care. I am also a co-investigator for a qualitative, gender analysis of vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers at high-risk of occupational exposure to influenza and COVID-19. This analysis is a qualitative component of a larger grant for the Johns Hopkins Specialized Centers of Research Excellence (SCORE) Sex and Age Differences in Immunity to Influenza (SADII) Program – a signature program of the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) that systematically evaluates sex differences in immune responses across the life course. And I am also serving as a co-investigator for a mixed-methods study of postpartum adherence to antiretroviral treatment for HIV and mother to child transmission of HIV in Nampula, Mozambique. This study is funded by the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) NIH/NIAID. On each of these studies I participate in and/or lead study design, submissions for ethical approval, instrument development, data collection, analysis and reporting. 

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Assistant Professor
International Health

Haneefa Saleem, MPH, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Health. She uses qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the social, behavioral, and structural aspects of health. Her research focuses on the intersections of substance use and HIV and is advancing knowledge of the mechanisms through which structural and social factors affect substance use and HIV prevention and treatment behaviors and outcomes. In partnership with collaborators in Tanzania, Dr. Saleem has explored the risk environment of women who use drugs, including the structural mechanisms that place women at elevated risk for HIV, poor treatment outcomes, violence, and overdose (JHU CFAR award; P30AI094189). She integrates qualitative methods to inform and evaluate implementation approaches aimed at improving access to and outcomes of substance use disorder treatment for people who use drugs (K01DA47142, PI: Saleem). Through her research she hopes to not only translate knowledge and lessons learned from the U.S. to low- and middle-income countries, but also seek to learn from global experiences to bring innovative ideas and perspectives to address our domestic HIV and opioid epidemics. Dr. Saleem is Director of the Inter-Center for AIDS Research Sub-Saharan Africa Working Group and co-instructs a qualitative research practicum course series (PH.224.697-9).  

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Assistant Scientist
Health, Behavior and Society

I am currently working on content analyses of manufacturer/retailer websites for e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches in China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. I am also working on a focus group study around youth perceptions of flavored e-cigarettes in the Philippines. Both projects are supported with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use (bloomberg.org). 

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Associate 
International Health

I am an independent global health consultant with UNICEF and the World Bank Global Financing Facility, focused on Implementation Research and Evaluation. While at the moment I am not involved in an active research project, I support a wide portfolio of projects that have a strong qualitative component. My most recent qualitative research project was completed last year and focused on evaluating the sustainability of a large FCDO-funded Sexual Rights and Reproductive Health Consortium in low- and middle-income contexts. Outcome harvesting and semi-structured key informant interviews were the main data collection methods used; analysis was deductive thematic analysis using the framework approach. The results have not yet been published. 

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Professor 
International Health

I support several qualitative research projects in sub-Saharan Africa on reproductive health and malaria, through the Center for Communication Programs. I support training in qualitative research and implementation science through two NIH-funded public health training programs in Bamako, Mali. 

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Research Associate II
International Health

Description of work: Variety of qualitative research based in rural Uganda (topics include adolescents, contraception, HIV care engagement, ART diversion, etc.) through collaboration with the Rakai Health Sciences Program, funded through NIH grants.

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Associate Research Professor 
Health Policy and Management

I am a healthcare management researcher who studies the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices, health information technology, and other innovations that are designed to improve care delivery. I have extensive experience using qualitative, quantitative, and social network methods to form a comprehensive understanding of phenomena, with an explicit focus on engaging with community partners (policy-makers, clinicians and staff, and patients) to inform and improve the implementation and scale-up of innovations. 

  Here's a sample of some of my qualitative papers: 

• Yuan, C.T., Dy, S.M., Lai, A.Y., Oberlander, T., Hannum, S.M., Lasser, E.C., Heughan, J., Dukhanin, V., Kharrazi, H., Kim, J.M., Gurses, A.P., Bittle, M., Scholle, S.H., Marsteller, J.A. (2022). Challenges and Strategies for Patient Safety in Primary Care: A Qualitative Study. American Journal of Medical Quality. 
• Lai, A.Y., Fleuren, B.P.I., Larkin, J., Gruenewald-Schmitz, L., Yuan, C.T. (2022). Being “Low on the Totem Pole”: What Makes Work Worthwhile for Medical Assistants in an Era of Primary Care Transformation. Health Care Management Review. 
• Mathioudakis, N., Aboabdo, M., Abusamaan, M., Yuan, C., Lewis Boyer, L., Pilla, S., Johnson, E., Desai, S., Knight, A., Greene, P., Golden, S. (2021). Stakeholder Perspectives on an Inpatient Hypoglycemia Informatics Alert: Mixed Methods Study. JMIR Human Factors, 8(4):e31214. 
• Lasser, E.C., Heughan, J., Lai, A.Y., Yuan, C.T., Dy, S.M., Bittle, M., Oberlander, T., Pitts, S.I., Marsteller, J., Hannum, S.C. (2021). Patient perceptions of safety in primary care: a qualitative study to inform care, Current Medical Research and Opinion. 37:11,1991-1999, 

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