Juliet Namugenyi, MSc

Biography

I am a Laboratory Technologist, interested in a career as a lab scientist in basic and translational research in infectious diseases. I have over 7 years of experience in laboratory work in the field of HIV/AIDS at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), Kampala, where I am a senior Laboratory Technologist. Here and in my previous appointments, I conduct laboratory investigations and directly support various local and multisite research projects and collaborations. I am part of the lab team that conducts investigations for the HIV Prevention trials Network (HPTN) and Microbicide Trials in Network (MTN) studies based at the Makerere University-John Hopkins University Research Collaboration (MU-JHU) and Baylor study sites in Uganda. Through this work, I have been part of various HPTN and MTN successes including most recent findings of safety and acceptance of the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring for HIV prevention in adolescents. I have experience and technical expertise in many diagnostic technologies including and knowledge on their performance variability under different populations and circumstances. I have been privileged to receive special training in ‘Host-pathogen interaction in TB and TB-HIV co-infection and a ‘Fogarty HIV Research Training’ opportunity at IDI ‘in collaboration with John Hopkins University. I have data analytic skills and was able to analyze the dataset for my recent peer-reviewed publication. These experiences have helped hone my skills and rigor for research conduct and made me able to lay the foundation work for a research career. As a result of my prior work and relationships, I have been able to establish strong ties with the scientific community in my field of work and built good relationships with stakeholders involved in the HIV care cascade from the community to the Ministry of Health. My goal is to attain excellence in laboratory-based translational research to mentor future scientists and contribute to scientific developments that benefit research, public health and the academia.