Team

Sexual and reproductive health inequities are among the top challenges of our time. These are inequities Nimmi Ramanujam and her co-leaders are deeply passionate about addressing through Women-Inspired Strategies for Health (WISH). Dr. Ramanujam (Duke University) has pioneered health and educational innovations empowering women to be the solution. Megan Huchko’s (Duke University School of Medicine) implementation and cost-effectiveness trials on self-HPV testing directly informed Kenyan national health guidelines. Former Peruvian Minister of Health Patty Garcia (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia) introduced Peru’s HPV vaccination and testing policies and created HOPE, a social franchise model for women-empowered self-HPV testing.

Meet the people behind the WISH Revolution.

Directors

Organizations

Team

Directors

Nimmi Ramanujam, PhD

Duke University, United States

Nimmi Ramanujam, Robert W. Carr Professor of Biomedical Engineering, a U.S. National Academy of Inventors member and Fulbright Fellow, is widely recognized by several awards from Duke University, MIT, CUGH, U.S. Department of Defense, World Molecular Imaging Society, SPIE, and AnitaB.org for developing women's health technologies, including the Pocket Colposcope and the Callascope. She founded the Duke Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies and has launched two global initiatives: Ignite, which engages girls in STEM through design thinking, and the Calla Campaign, which empowers women to work against inequities in sexual and reproductive health.

Patty García, MD, MPH

Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru

Patty García, UPCH Professor of Public Health, Peru, is a U.S. National Academy of Medicine member and former Minister of Health of Peru where she introduced syphilis screening, HPV vaccination and testing, and national telemedicine. She is a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Technical Advisory Group member, board member of the CUGH and President of the LatAm Association against STDs. She created the HOPE Project, empowering community health volunteers to mobilize women in rural and indigenous communities in Peru to self-screen for cervical cancer through HPV testing. She is currently scaling self-HPV testing through HOPE with support from Grand Challenges Canada.

Megan Huchko, MD, MPH

Duke University School of Medicine, United States

Megan Huchko, Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Global Health, and Director of Duke’s Center for Global Reproductive Health, is an expert in cervical cancer prevention and implementation science. Working in Kenya, she has implemented rural HPV-based cervical cancer screening and the first HPV-based testing facility outside of Nairobi and worked with developers to create mobile applications for healthcare workers. She collaborates with Kenyan ministries of health and government officials to make these interventions sustainable through budget, protocol and policy development. Her work has directly informed Kenyan national guidelines for HPV testing.