by Andy Currie

Rena Patel, MD, MPH is a physician-scientist who conducts mixed methods research using both qualitative and quantitative tools in reproductive health and accessible health care. She serves as the assistant director of the UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center, and has recently been named associate director for Global Health Research for the UAB Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health (MHIGH).

Before joining UAB, Patel was an assistant professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, and at the University of Washington. Patel completed her medical school and residency at Stanford University, received her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health, and her MPhil in Sociology from the University of Cambridge. She has also worked in India, Tanzania, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Uganda. Her work across the world has led Patel to mentor multiple trainees.

Jenine Shafi and Maneet Kaur Virk, public health students at the University of Washington, co- authored a publication under Patel titled “Pharmacovigilance in Pregnancy Studies, Exposures and Outcomes Ascertainment, and Findings from Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review” in the journal Drug Safety. This review examines the current scope of work related to drug/vaccine safety among pregnant individuals.

Jessica Giang, another student mentored by Patel at the University of Washington, published the article "Real-world performance of point-of-care vs. standard-of-care HIV viral load testing in western Kenya: Secondary analysis of Opt4Kids and Opt4Mamas studies.” This study compared a point of care test for HIV viral load to the standard of care test to help increase access to care for people living with HIV.

Mehar Maju, a School of Medicine student from the University of Washington, under the leadership and guidance of Dr. Rena Patel and the rest of her team, we recently published our research on antiretroviral treatment and reproductive health planning in Kenya in the article "No One Needs to be Forced": Qualitative Insights on Competing Priorities between Antiretroviral Therapy and Reproductive Health Planning during the Dolutegravir Rollout.”

Patel has also mentored students not planning to enter medicine or healthcare fields. Yinsheng Wang, a Ph.D. student at the Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Washing ton, was co-first author and corresponding author of the paper “Optimizing HIV drug resistance testing laboratory networks in Kenya: insights from systems engineering modelling.” This project centered on a model with user-friendly interface using integer programming and queueing theory to improve the DRT system in Kisumu County, Kenya.

Patel has also mentored two local trainees in the most recent Trainee Research Symposium. These trainees, undergraduate Olivia Douglas and graduate student Alvina Do, both earned awards for their individual projects on women living with HIV.

“Now, more than ever, we need to think harder about fostering partnerships,” said Patel. “I look forward to working with the our partners and collaborators for global health research at UAB to reach new heights.”