Margaret Kasaro, MD, MBChB, MSc
Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Areas of Interest
HIV prevention, Pregnancy outcomes, Improvement of maternal care in LMICs
About
Dr. Kasaro’s interests are in HIV in women. From 2005 to 2015, she worked at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) to support DAIDS-funded, HIV/AIDS network trials. She began this work as a medical officer but soon expanded my responsibilities as an investigator of record to site lead for the ACTG, IMPAACT, and MTN networks. From 2012 to 2015, Dr. Kasaro was appointed the Deputy Clinical Research Site Leader for the UNC Global Clinical Trials Unit’s Zambia site. In 2015, She was appointed as Country Director for UNC Global Projects Zambia. As part of this work, she served as the site lead for numerous collaborative studies focused on women and HIV. This includes the ECHO study, which investigated the role of contraceptive methods on HIV acquisition. She was site PI for a new industry-funded trial of islatravir for primary HIV prevention in women; Dr. Kasaro is currently spearheading a follow-on study called INSIGHT to better understand the role and preferences of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among women. In addition, she has been integrally involved in a number of studies of pregnant women. She was the investigator of record for a randomized feasibility trial comparing antidepressant medications to interpersonal therapy in Zambian postpartum women with HIV. She is a listed co-investigator on the Tonse Pamodzi project, which sought to develop and evaluate combination HIV strategies for pregnant and breastfeeding women. She serves on the leadership team of two pregnancy-focused initiatives funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: the ZAPPS Pregnancy Cohort and ARC Household Survey. Finally, she works on a large ultrasound initiative to democratize obstetric ultrasound in areas where the need is greatest.
Awards and Honors
- Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA )
- Africa and Near East region for your contribution to innovative research that positively impacts women’s and children’s health.
Memberships
- Medical Women Association of Zambia Zambia Medical Association
Education
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Medical School
University of Zambia
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Residency
University of Zambia