Kathryn L Hopkins

Kathryn L Hopkins is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the Co-Principal Investigator of the Key Populations Division at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU); Joint-Faculty Researcher of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand; Lecturer of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town Faculty; and has submitted her PhD thesis in health systems strengthening (operational research) at the Wits School of Public Health (currently under examination). Mrs. Hopkins’ was awarded funding for her PhD study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an activity under its Cooperative Agreement to the Medical Research Council (MRC) of South Africa for Tuberculosis Control and HIV Prevention, Care, and Treatment Activities under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Her PhD evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of integrating non-communicable disease screening - including task-shifting rapid screenings to lay counsellors – and peer-navigated linkage to care and treatment services for adults into a standard of care HIV Testing Services clinic within Soweto, South Africa. Prior to this, she helped manage the clinical research site expansion from three sites in South Africa to more than thirty sites within Eastern and Southern Africa, monitoring the conduct of site operations for various phases of HIV vaccine clinical trials within the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). Hopkins holds a Masters in Public Health, with a focus on Global Health, from Boston University School of Public Health, USA. Her research interests include clinical epidemiology, HIV prevention, chronic disease and communicable disease comorbidity, and health systems strengthening for the improvement of population health. She has published articles in and served as a peer-reviewer for both local and global peer-reviewed journals, and has presented at international conferences.