Joel Msafiri Francis

I am a Research Professor/Reader at the University of the Witwatersrand, School of Clinical Medicine, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care. I am rated at the NRF-C2 level by the South Africa National Research Foundation (NRF).
Before joining WITS, I worked as a research scientist with the National Institute for Medical Research in Tanzania, and as a research fellow with the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University.
I hold a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree (equivalent to MBBCh) from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, an MSc in Epidemiology from Harvard University, USA, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of London (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), UK.
I engage in 1) Research supervision and mentorship of undergraduate, Master, and PhD candidates in Epidemiology, Family Medicine, and Public Health. 2) Health research - areas of interest HIV, Noncommunicable Diseases, Alcohol and Other Drug Use, Mental Health, Implementation Science, and Epidemiology (Surveys, Case-Control Studies, Cohort studies, Systematic review, and meta-analysis, Cluster Randomized Trials, Randomized Control Trials, and Data Mining).
I serve on the editorial boards of the following journals: three BMC series journals (BMC- Public Health, BMC – Global Health Research and Policy, and BMC - Infectious Diseases), two PLOS journals (PLOS One and PLOS Global Public Health), statistical editor for the Health Policy and Planning journal, Deputy Editor In Chief at Health Promotion International journal, an editorial advisor at the BMJ Open journal and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
I serve as an adjunct faculty at the School of Life Science and Bioengineering at Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania. I am a member of the International AIDS Society and serve as a Board Member of the International Confederation of ATOD Research Associations (ICARA).

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1902-2683