2019 Ward Cates emerging
leader award
Each year the Triangle Global Health Consortium recognizes emerging leaders in North Carolina who have demonstrated significant promise and a commitment to improving the health of the world's communities.
The Ward Cates Emerging Leader Award is named in memory of Dr. Ward Cates, President Emeritus and Distinguished Scientist of FHI 360. Dr. Cates dedicated his life's work to the fields of HIV/AIDS and women's reproductive health. His tireless efforts made a significant impact on global health both in North Carolina and around the world. Information on past Emerging Leader Award winners can be found here.
Three finalists for the 2019 Ward Cates Emerging Leader Award were chosen by an advisory panel of global health experts!.
Award Criteria:
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A commitment to improving the health of the world's communities
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A spirit of innovation
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Collaboration
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Demonstrated leadership potential in improving global health
Dr. Ward Cates
Felicia Browne, ScD, MPH
Felicia Browne, ScD, MPH, is a social epidemiologist at RTI International in the Substance Use, Gender and Applied Research Program. She has more than a decade of experience adapting and implementing HIV behavioral interventions locally and globally to empower adolescent girls and young women at risk for HIV. She is a Multiple Principal Investigator of a NIDA-funded R01 study testing an mHealth delivery of an HIV prevention intervention in North Carolina health departments for young African American women. She was an integral part of the mHealth development team—ensuring innovative intervention components were included. She is also the Co-Project Director of a NIDA-funded R01 project in South Africa for female adolescents who are out of school, and a Co-Investigator on two NIH-funded R01 projects in South Africa—including one for women living with HIV.
Chytanya Kompala, MSPH
As a global health nutritionist, Chytanya Kompala works to support implementation research on cost-effective solutions to malnutrition in East Africa. Her research interests include implementation research, maternal and child nutrition, and innovative, scalable solutions to improving global nutrition. Chytanya Kompala currently serves as the Nutrition Research Program Officer for the Eleanor Crook Foundation (ECF). Chytanya demonstrates innovative thinking and technical expertise to help grow ECF’s research portfolio (RISE) more strategically, and facilitate collaboration within and between current ECF grants. Through her grant management of RISE, ECF’s $10 million grant portfolio on implementation research, Chytanya provides technical support, helps troubleshoot roadblocks, and thinks creatively about how to turn positive research results into wide-scale policy change.
Jenna Mueller, PhD
Jenna Mueller, PhD, is a biomedical engineer who works with the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies at Duke University to develop low-cost devices and therapies to improve the management of cervical cancer in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). She worked with a multidisciplinary team to develop the Pocket colposcope, a low-cost, portable device to screen women for cervical pre-cancer at the primary care setting, and conducted studies to demonstrate its impact in 1000 women in 8 countries. Additionally, she is spearheading a new program to develop low-cost therapeutics for cervical pre-cancer and received a K99 award from the NIH to do large animal trials before moving to patient studies.