Madalitso Khwepeya

Madalitso Khwepeya graduated with her MPH in Epidemiology-Maternal and Child Health at the University of Washington. She had previously obtained Master's and PhD degrees in nursing science from Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. Her work experience spans from core nursing clinical practice, where she held a deputy in charge of the maternity department position in Malawi for four years, to managing research projects in medical education at Chang Gung Medical Education Research Centre, Taiwan. Recently, she worked at I-TECH on a project that sought to evaluate two-way texting (2wT) as an effective follow-up intervention for males after voluntary circumcision. Her research experience and passion are in the use of quantitative epidemiological methods to find solutions to perinatal mental health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Madalitso worked on eight projects during her two-year engagement with START, acting as the Project Manager for one of them.

Below are highlights from two of the projects Madalitso worked on:

• Immunogenicity: The START team conducted a rigorous literature review to better understand the impact of dose interval on immunogenicity in multi-dose vaccine regimens across and within vaccine platforms to inform the optimization of routine immunization schedules by improving efficacy, increasing coverage, and reducing cost.
• Charting the Transition from Culture to Molecular Surveillance Methods:The START team reviewed grey and published literature and interviewed subject matter experts to describe the history of progression from culture-based methods to molecular methods for public health surveillance for ten pathogens of public health importance in order to describe facilitators and barriers to progressing to newer molecular methods of surveillance.
  

Reflecting on her time with START, Madalitso said, "My time at START has been one of the most formative parts of my graduate experience. Being part of multidisciplinary teams, contributing to real-world global health projects, and having the opportunity to lead some of those projects significantly strengthened my research and leadership skills. Collaborating across diverse topics and disciplines also broadened my perspective on how public health research can drive meaningful change. I’m leaving START more confident, competent, and inspired to advance equity in global health."