News

Dr. Familiar-Lopez is awarded the 2020 AAP Transforming Institutions Strategic Award

Posted: Aug 28, 2024

  Familiar, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, MSU and Dr. Noeline Nakasujja, Professor and Chair in the Psychiatry Department at Makerere University in Uganda were awarded the 2020 Alliance for African Partnership Transforming Institutions Strategic Award. Their joint project is titled:  'A collaborative research program between Michigan State University and Makerere University psychiatry departments on climate change and gender-based violence in Uganda'. 

Dr. Familiar and her team are uniquely positioned to respond to calls for increasing research efforts on climate change, violence, and mental health given the expertise of the multidisciplinary team involved and their extensive experience in designing and conducting clinical trials for behavioral interventions in Uganda. This Partnership Grant will also serve as seed funding to foster the development of a proposal for an innovative research program focused on mental health, climate change and GBV, continuing to strengthen the research capacity in this area in the Departments of Psychiatry at Makerere University and Michigan State University through the expert collaboration of Dr. Jura Augustinavicius from Johns Hopkins University.

The proposed research and capacity building program will capitalize on rich resources for mental health research at MSU, and leverage knowledge and expertise in the field from expert colleagues, providing trainees with the skills and experiences needed to lead multidisciplinary, collaborative research teams able to conduct high-quality research in a South-South cooperation framework.