Collins Iwuji
Professor Collins Iwuji holds the positions of faculty at Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), professor of global health and HIV medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), University of Sussex and honorary consultant physician at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, UK. Collins obtained his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine, Abia State University, Nigeria, followed by training in general internal medicine in Birmingham. He completed his specialist training in sexual health and HIV medicine at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. Collins additionally has an MSc in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. During his doctorate degree at University College London, Collins investigated whether earlier treatment of HIV in rural South Africa will lead to drug resistance of the prevalence and form likely to make HIV elimination difficult.
Collins is involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and is the deputy lead for the medical students’ clinical elective module at BSMS. He is on the training committee of the Wellcome PhD Programme in Global Health Research in Africa and one of the PhD supervisors for the programme. This programme is a partnership between LSHTM, BSMS, three other UK universities and six African partner institutions.
Iwuji group
Collins’ work at AHRI is interdisciplinary – spanning population science, clinical medicine, public health, social science, and planetary health.
His active research projects include:
- Evaluating strategies to optimise HIV viral load monitoring in order to improve clinical outcomes on antiretroviral therapy in public sector clinics
- Investigating long-term clinical outcomes in a longitudinal cohort of people with HIV who were participants of the ANRS Treatment as Prevention trial
- Investigating the impact of climate change on health
- Multi-country study of the impact of Covid-19 on excess mortality
- Investigating interventions for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Hepatitis B
Meet the Team
Kingsley Orievulu
Research associate
Dr Kingsley Orievulu is a social scientist with an interest in multidisciplinary approaches to health and development outcomes. His current research focuses on the social dimensions of climate change, and environmental stressors’ impact on HIV positive individuals' care utilisation, and health systems resilience and adaptation. He also leads projects on socio-ethical dimensions of research during disasters, and vaccine perceptions, uptake, and hesitancy among rural and urban populations in KwaZulu-Natal. Kingsley earned his PhD in development studies from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Erofili Grapsa
Statistician
Dr Erofili Grapsa is a statistician and data analyst with many years of experience in analysing complex datasets and applying advanced statistical methodologies and modelling in health, labour market, gender issues, and social sciences in general. She is interested in developing and expanding research methodology by implementing cross- and inter-disciplinary methods and in providing support for evidence-based policy making. Erofili currently contributes to the multi-country study of the impact of Covid-19 and government responses on excess mortality.
Thandeka Msebenzi
Research coordinator
Ms Thandeka Msebenzi has experience working across private/public sector environments, and driving dialogue and innovation platform opportunities for sustainable community development projects. She earned her MSc in housing from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her research focused on community educational programmess bridging the gap between sanitation policy and practice of ecological sanitation. Currently, she is a research coordinator on the Covid-19 grant on diagnostic testing systems in a multi-country study.
Selected Recent Publications
Orievulu KS, Ayeb-Karlsson S, Ngema S, Baisley K, Tanser F, Ngwenya N, Seeley J, Hanekom W, Herbst K, Kniveton D, Iwuji CC. Exploring linkages between drought and HIV treatment adherence in Africa: a systematic review. Lancet Planet Health. 2022 Apr;6(4):e359-e370. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00016-X.
Kingsley Orievulu, Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Nothando Ngwenya, Sthembile Ngema, Hayley McGregor, Oluwafemi Adeagbo, Mark J. Siedner, Willem Hanekom, Dominic Kniveton, Janet Seeley, Collins Iwuji . Economic, social and demographic impacts of drought on treatment adherence among people living with HIV in rural South Africa: A qualitative analysis. Climate Risk Management. 2022 Feb; Volume 36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2022.100423.
Baisley K, Orne-Gliemann J, Larmarange J, Plazy M, Collier D, Dreyer J, Mngomezulu T, Herbst K, Hanekom W, Dabis F, Siedner MJ, Iwuji C. Early HIV treatment and survival over six years of observation in the ANRS 12249 Treatment as Prevention Trial. HIV Med. 2022 Feb 26. doi: 10.1111/hiv.13263.
Derache A, Iwuji CC, Baisley K, Danaviah S, Marcelin AG, Calvez V, de Oliveira T, Dabis F, Porter K, Pillay D. Impact of Next-generation Sequencing Defined Human Immunodeficiency Virus Pretreatment Drug Resistance on Virological Outcomes in the ANRS 12249 Treatment-as-Prevention Trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2019 Jul 2;69(2):207-214. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciy881..
Iwuji C, McGrath N, Calmy A, Dabis F, Pillay D, Newell ML, Baisley K, Porter K. Universal test and treat is not associated with sub-optimal antiretroviral therapy adherence in rural South Africa: the ANRS 12249 TasP trial. J Int AIDS Soc. 2018 Jun;21(6):e25112. doi: 10.1002/jia2.25112.
Iwuji CC, Orne-Gliemann J, Larmarange J, Balestre E, Thiébaut R, Tanser F, Okesola N, Makowa T, Dreyer J, Herbst K, McGrath N, Bärnighausen T, Boyer S, De Oliveira T, Rekacewicz C, Bazin B, Newell ML, Pillay D, Dabis F; ANRS 12249 TasP Study Group. Universal test and treat and the HIV epidemic in rural South Africa: a phase 4, open-label, community cluster randomised trial. Lancet HIV. 2018 Mar;5(3):e116-e125. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(17)30205-9.