Agnes Ssali, PhD

Biography

Dr. Ssali joined the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM in 2003 as a scientific officer and is currently a scientist in a leadership position on several research projects. Dr Ssali has led social science teams on several research studies including the microbicide development programme (MDP) which ran from 2003 to 2010. After that project she undertook training in public health and then her PhD at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, United Kingdom looking at informed consent in the context of clinical trials.

After completion of her PhD in 2015, Dr Ssali returned to a leadership role in the Unit. She is leading an HIV intervention program on accelerating epidemic HIV control among key populations in Kampala, a project sub-granted through the Infectious Disease Institute and sponsored through PEPFAR, CDC. She is a senior social scientist and a lead social scientist on two projects on vaccine development: a feasibility study on Schistosoma mansoni controlled human infections and an Ebola study titled “to provide additional information on immunogenicity and safety of Ad26.ZEBOV/MVA-BN®-Filo Ebola vaccine”. She is looking at feasibility and acceptance of the vaccine to participants and wider communities. Dr Ssali’s study is focusing on the children of women who at high risk of HIV infection living in poor urban settings. This study addresses a gap in our knowledge about these families and the well-being of the mothers and children in the context where the women makes a living through providing sex.

Dr Ssali during the implementation of the grant, through mentorship from Professor Seeley, training courses and access to the space and facilities required to complete her research work.