Nora Rosenberg (Fall, 2011)

December 27, 2011
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Doctoral student
Epidemiology
2011 Winstanly Scholar

Nora Rosenberg

“A colleague once described an ideal career as one that combines ‘the world’s great need with your great joy,'” Nora Rosenberg remembers. “I am fortunate to have found this type of career.”

Rosenberg works in parts of sub-Saharan Africa heavily affected by HIV, where the need for public health solutions is great. Applying her analytic skills toward a better understanding of those needs keeps her engaged and passionate.She studies how to leverage HIV counseling and testing as a prevention intervention. She has collaborated with William Miller, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and medicine, and Audrey Pettifor, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology, on several studies based in Lilongwe, Malawi. They aim to identify people soon after they acquire HIV, when they are highly infectious, to learn how to most effectively prevent onward transmission. They also try to determine whether people who are HIV-infected are able to recruit their social and sexual networks for HIV testing.

“My dissertation research is based in rural South Africa, where half the women my age are infected with HIV,” Rosenberg says. “I am assessing whether HIV counseling and testing has an impact on sexual behavior and on HIV acquisition. I am motivated by the possibility that my findings will influence how HIV counseling and testing is delivered and ultimately help slow the spread of HIV.”

Carolina Public Health is a publication of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. To view previous issues, please visit www.sph.unc.edu/cph.