Christina Laurenzi

What inspires you to work in the HIV field?

It is an interesting and pivotal time to be generating evidence for intervention on adolescence and HIV. We have made tremendous strides in the HIV response, and yet, some of the most persistent gaps in care and service delivery seem more pronounced than ever. Mental health challenges, multiple layers of stigma, and social, structural and geographic barriers remain and require our full attention to make further progress. I am inspired by the individuals I have the opportunity to work with, the adolescent girls and young women with whom our team has started engaging through my CIPHER Grant, and the community-based service providers who have been part of this conversation from the earliest days.

What are your goals as an IAS change maker?

I am committed to creating a space for collaboration and learning, both among my own research team members, but also with our study's participants, young adolescent mothers who are living with HIV, and the adults in their support networks. I want to ensure that through this project, we generate a better understanding of how to reflect on and integrate key ethical considerations in working with young people experiencing multiple, concurrent life challenges. And finally, I am hoping to refine ways of setting priorities with practitioners and programmers from the outset of research studies, as well as communicate and share emerging findings, so that there are immediate, tangible ways to integrate findings into practice.