Dr. Beesham will spend her fellowship year at Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) in Durban, South Africa under the mentorship of Maryam Shahmanesh, FRCP, PhD and Lynn Matthews, MD, MPH. Her research will focus on Understanding patterns of oral PrEP use among African adolescents and young women using PrEP for HIV prevention in a safer conception research study and a community implementation PrEP trial.

Dr. Beesham is a physician at University of the Witwatersrand. She would like to transition from an early career researcher to an independent researcher, and continue working in the HIV prevention field to prevent new infections, particularly among young people. Dr. Beesham has presented data at HIV conferences, and published manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals on topics such as HIV prevention and oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), contraception, and HIV resistance. A highlight of her career was working as a research clinician on the Evidence for Contraceptive Options and HIV Outcomes (ECHO) Trial.

LMIC site: Africa Health Research Institute