Associate Professor, Global Women’s Health & OB-GYN, Generalist
Head of South African Program
Dr. Carla Chibwesha’s work is focused on improving the health and well-being of women and girls globally. Her primary expertise is in cervical cancer prevention, and her research explores clinical and public health problems at the intersection of HPV and HIV.
Dr. Chibwesha is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology in UNC’s Division of Global Women’s Health. She earned her medical degree and completed residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Brown University. Dr. Chibwesha also holds an MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and completed postdoctoral research training through the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Global Women’s Health Fellowship and the Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellowship.
Between 2009 and 2014, Dr. Chibwesha worked in Lusaka, Zambia, where she was an integral member of the Zambian Cervical Cancer Prevention Program, the continent’s largest see-and-treat cervical cancer prevention program. Since 2014, she has been based in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she leads the partnership between UNC Global Women’s Health, Wits University’s Clinical HIV Research Unit, and the NGO, Right to Care. This partnership seeks to transform the delivery of cervical cancer prevention services in South Africa.
As part of her commitment to the next generation of women’s health practitioners, Dr. Chibwesha holds leadership roles on three NIH-funded clinical research training fellowships. Her Johannesburg-based cervical cancer prevention team has also trained over 250 front-line healthcare providers across East and Southern Africa.
Areas of Research
- cervical cancer control
- family planning
- prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV
- reduction of maternal mortality
