Professor Victor Ocholla Omollo

I am a junior research scientist at Kenya Medical Research Institute. I have a background in medicine and public health with a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) from Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya and a Masters in Public Health (MPH) from University of Washington, Seattle, USA. My research interest focuses on intervention that prevent and reduce transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among adolescent girls and young women. One intervention that I have explored through a pilot study in the past is expedited partner treatment and partner HIV self-testing among adolescent girls and young women diagnosed with Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhea in Kisumu Kenya. In an effort to maximize testing efficiency to diagnose Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in young women in Kisumu, Kenya where diagnostic testing is widely unavailable and expensive when available, I am currently working on piloting the use of a risk score in young women attending family planning and antenatal clinics to identify women at higher risk of a bacterial STI in whom diagnostic testing would be cost-effective, and lower-risk women who do not require diagnostic testing.