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Pan-university interdisciplinary work

Our team conducting research in Zambia includes UNC public health and pharmacy working on challenges in women’s health, HIV, and more. Our operations also work closely with our neighboring UNC Project-Malawi.

In 2012, the Institute recruited key faculty from the University of Alabama at Birmingham to continue work they were conducting in Zambia. Working closely with the Zambian government, this team has been instrumental in quickly scaling up public health interventions for HIV care, treatment and prevention. We’ve developed a robust research portfolio focusing on HIV as well as women’s cancers, obstetric outcomes and maternal-child health. Our Zambia team has developed strong collaborations with the University of Zambia School of Medicine to further build research and public health infrastructure. UNC Project-Zambia now supports 20 research grants and employs 104 Zambians.

Groesbeck Parham, MD, is the country’s only gynecologic oncologist. His day-to-day focus is to provide life-saving surgeries, often made possible by private donations, for underserved women with cancer. At the same time, he has launched a gynecologic surgical training program to build these skills in the next generation of Zambian surgeons. All research takes place in public health facilities, and UNC faculty and fellows rotate at the country’s University Teaching Hospital. Research studies focus on breast and cervical cancer.


  • wide shot of Jeff Stringer by window

    Team lands $14M to improve pregnancy outcomes

    A team led by Jeff Stringer, MD, associate director of research for the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases, has received $14 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct two studies aimed at improving pregnancy outcomes in the world’s poorest countries. The interdisciplinary group from departments within UNC’s  School of Medicine … Read more