GEM Research & Innovation

2026 - 2027| South Africa| Partners:  Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF), Gugulethu Community Health Centre, Tygerberg Hospital

The Universal Test and Connect (UTC) project is an NIH-funded R34 research collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF) focused on studying the UTC approach in emergency departments (EDs) in South Africa. UTC is a proven, sero-neutral strategy where every ED patient is offered HIV testing, with prevention or treatment interventions tailored to their results. Patients who test negative are offered pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), while patients who test positive begin antiretroviral therapy (ART). This approach is critically important for South African EDs, where 25% of patients are living with HIV but only 45% are on ART, and 7% of those living with HIV are newly diagnosed in the ED. The ED setting is often the key access point for many high-risk individuals who otherwise lack routine health care.

Enrollment began at Gugulethu Community Health Centre in January 2026, with a target of 700 participants. Expansion to Tygerberg Hospital is planned for September 2026, where we aim to recruit an additional 1,100 participants through September 2027. As part of this trial, we are studying same-day PrEP initiation and offering participants a choice between oral and long-acting PrEP, piloting PrEP delivery directly from the ED. Our goal is to establish a model for broader implementation of ED-based HIV prevention both in South Africa and internationally.

2026 - 2027| South Africa| Amanda West, MD, MPH 

As a forthcoming Fogarty Global Health Fellow through the NIH-supported UJMT LAUNCH program, Dr. West will lead a study in Cape Town, South Africa examining how experiences of violence influence HIV testing behaviors and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake and choice among young women presenting to emergency departments. Her broader research applies implementation science frameworks to design and evaluate trauma-informed interventions in acute care, with the goal of improving both identification of violence and linkage to supportive services. 

2022 - Present| Ghana| Dr. Teagan Lukacs | Partner: Dr. Joseph Bonney, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH)

Infections cause a large number of deaths globally every year. Patients in low-resource settings are affected at much higher rates than other parts of the world. Management of acute infectious illnesses involves the entire medical system. It is important to understand the whole medical system and how patients interact with it to identify how and where care can be improved. 

As part of her Fogarty Fellowship, Dr. Lukacs led a mixed method study in Kumasi, Ghana to map the pathway to care for patients with acute infectious illnesses (AII). The aims of the study are to 1) Define the pathway of care for patients with AII in Kumasi, Ghana, and determine their 30-day mortality, and 2)  Develop a list of priority interventions to improve clinical outcomes for patients with AII. Her research engages both patients and a range of healthcare providers to get a holistic perspective on medical system operations, how patients engage with the system, and what type of care they receive at various facilities.