Biography: This fall I will (hopefully) finish writing my dissertation and defend it. Before coming to Tulane, I worked as an assistant lecturer and research faculty at the Kinshasa School of Public Health, in the Democratic Republic of Congo for five years. I hold a MPH from the Kinshasa school of public health. I taught introduction to epidemiology and biostatistics to undergraduate students and health communication to graduate students. I tutored graduate students in research methodologies, epidemiology, and biostatistics. My area of research focused on reproductive health/HIV and communication for behavior change as well as research in others topics such as malaria and nutrition. I also managed a project aimed at preventing sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, among university students in Kinshasa. It was the first project of this kind to be established on campus.

Research Focus: I am a general medical practitioner from the Kinshasa School of Medicine and my study at Tulane focused on research methodologies, HIV prevention, project management, and behavior change. My dissertation focuses on adolescents sexual behaviors and I look at factors associated with protective sexual behaviors including abstinence (primary and secondary) and condoms use, from individual characteristics, family, and community factors. These three methods have the potential to prevent both unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.