24 Jul Advancing HIV & TB science: Young award-winners share their stories

At the 19^th INTEREST conference in Windhoek, Namibia, Patane Shilabye from South Africa and Uganda’s Clark Joshua Brianwong took home the prestigious Joep Lange and Charles Bouchers awards for high-scoring scientific abstracts submitted by African early-career researchers. Here, they talk about why they study what they do, what’s next for them, and the role of gardening and rally cars.

 

PATANE SHILABYE

When Patane Shilabye was busy completing her master’s degree in medical sciences, she realized she wanted to study “something very impactful” next. And what could be more impactful in her home country of South Africa than homing in on HIV?

Combining it with assessing cardiovascular disease risk meant she would contribute to the fight against two of South Africa’s biggest health challenges. Out of a population of 63 million, the country has 8 million or so people living with HIV, and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death after HIV.

Presenting a study showing that antiretroviral therapy is associated with increased arterial stiffness over time, Patane bagged the Joep Lange award for one of the highest-scoring scientific abstracts submitted to the 19th INTEREST conference by an African early-career researcher. She determined this by using measurements of pulse-wave velocity – the speed at which the wave created by each heartbeat travels along the artery walls – from the community living in the village of Elandsdoorn in her home province of Limpopo.

“The reason we decided to use pulse-wave velocity is because it is a well-established surrogate marker of cardiovascular disease risk in developed countries, particularly in high-income settings,” Patane told INTEREST attendees in Windhoek, Namibia. “There are other biomarkers of cardiovascular disease, but sometimes they are not as reliable, so we decided to go with the one that is considered the gold standard.”

Gardening provides peace

Patane is studying towards a PhD jointly supervised by academics from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and Utrecht University in the Netherlands. On top of that, she is also completing a master’s degree in epidemiology – a requirement from Utrecht University. If all goes well, she will defend her thesis in June 2026.

In primary school, Patane was interested in becoming a social worker. “But I had this high school teacher, Mr Boya, who was teaching life sciences to the point I fell in love with it and wanted to learn more about how the body works,” she says with her characteristic bubbliness.

Patane then considered medicine. But after researching what a degree in medical sciences entails, she enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in this field at the University of Limpopo. Besides, she didn’t like working directly with blood, Patane soon realized. This was followed by a master’s degree in the same field, before she commenced her PhD in physiology and epidemiology.

“One of the initial challenges was transitioning into epidemiology,” Patane says. “I had to build my capacity in advanced analysis, statistical reasoning, and population-level thinking – skills which were entirely new to me.”

That’s where her MSc in epidemiology comes in helpful, but balancing both degrees at the same time is “really intense and demanding”, Patane sighs. “But it taught me to multitask, manage time under pressure, and stay organized.”

Gardening helps take her mind off things. Currently, Patane has cherry pips in her fridge to simulate the winter conditions they need to germinate. Then she intends to try her hand at grapes.

“Gardening gives me peace and a break from screens and academic deadlines. It’s sort of like a way for me to meditate and to reconnect with something simple and alive. Oh my gosh, I love gardening!”

‘United as a community’

The 2025 edition was the second INTEREST conference Patane attended, after presenting a poster in 2023 in Mozambique. Patane nearly didn’t make it to Windhoek, however.

“This year, I didn’t have any funding at all. I was either going to use my savings or try to find ways to pay for the flights and everything. Fortunately, my supervisors found a way to support me.”

Beyond winning the award, INTEREST 2025 held many memorable moments for Patane. “One of the biggest highlights was witnessing the wide range of HIV research being conducted across Africa. You could see there’s progress being made in HIV science and care.

“What I found inspiring was how determined everyone was in making a difference in public health – it shows we are not just united as researchers, but as a community. During the conference, we had other young researchers who are increasingly stepping up and taking up space in scientific discourse. That gave me a sense of hope for the future of science on the continent.”

 

CLARK JOSHUA BRIANWONG

Clark Joshua Brianwong’s interest in science started in childhood. He would dismantle his friend’s toys to find out how they worked, for instance.

“Or, where we grew up in the village, there were fences and we would take wire from them to make cars,” Clark explains from the city of Mbale in Uganda. His name, calm demeanour, and usual outfit of black-rimmed glasses with button-up shirts remind you of Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent.

Around 1998, his interest in science took a personal turn: Clark’s mother had been diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB).

“At the time, the treatment for TB took eight months,” he says. “At that young age, I saw how my mother was suffering. The place where she would get TB treatment from was about 10 km from where we were staying, and back then, the drugs were not a fixed dose, so she’d have very many pills to take.”

A quarter of a century later, Clark Joshua is supporting health teams to make sure people can get diagnosed and start treatment for TB right where they live. As  TB Programme Specialist at the Baylor Foundation, his novel approach to pinpointing villages likely to have TB patients has led to an increase in diagnosed cases and reduced the cost of doing so by 41%.

Incorporated into national TB programme

For the study that Clark Joshua presented at INTEREST 2025, he was awarded the Charles Boucher award for one of the highest-scoring scientific abstracts submitted by an African early-career researcher. The title in full is: “Leveraging eCBSS data for geospatial mapping of tuberculosis hotspots and optimizing the integrated TB case finding (CAST+) intervention in eastern Uganda”.

Clark Joshua got the idea from seeing how GIS (short for “Geographic Information System”, a way of digitally representing geographic data) is used to map traffic jams. Working with his team, they ensured all their region’s data from paper-based TB registers were entered into Uganda’s electronic case-based surveillance system for TB and leprosy so they could then identify villages where TB cases were more likely to be found.

“It was very challenging cleaning the data and trying to make sense of it,” Clark Joshua explains. “We would find the naming of some villages was different from the names in the GIS shapefiles, and sometimes, other data was missing. So, there was a vigorous back and forth with the facility teams.”

Once they had a list of villages, community health workers embarked on a campaign to screen residents for TB and various other health issues. Support from a mobile digital X-ray kit and a driver who could ferry samples to the nearest TB facility meant TB cases could be rapidly identified. Costing $37 per patient diagnosed, the team shaved $29 off the cost of identifying each TB case.

Uganda’s ministry of health has now embedded their approach in the national TB programme. And at INTEREST, Clark Joshua shared details of their approach with peers from Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, and other Ugandan colleagues.

First international conference

INTEREST 2025 was the very first international conference Clark Joshua attended. He is currently finalizing the thesis for his master’s degree in public health at Makerere University. If all goes well, he hopes to share the findings – about the diagnostic cut-off for latent TB cases – at next year’s iteration.

When he’s not working, Clark Joshua relaxes by reading widely, playing volleyball, or going to rally car races – sometimes participating in them too. He also loves hiking in Uganda’s mountains.

And always, whether it’s in his free time or at the INTEREST conference, the young researcher enjoys talking with new people who have new ideas.

“One highlight of INTEREST was interacting with researchers from across the continent and getting their insights into how they have modelled different interventions,” Clark says. “Another was witnessing the vast capability that we have as a continent and the home-grown ideas that will help us improve the lives of our people.”

 

Advice to fellow young researchers Patane Shilabye Stay curious. Choose a subject you genuinely love – something that excites you and keeps you curious. And then find a supervisor who’s also passionate about that field, because if both of you care deeply about the work, it creates a supportive and motivating environment. Go to conferences. Attend conferences early in your career because they are not just about presenting your work, but are opportunities to learn, meet other researchers, and understand where your work fits into the broader field. You might find new research ideas. Reach out. Don’t be afraid to take the first step. If you admire a researcher and want to work with that person, reach out. It’s better to try and get a response than to hold yourself back with doubt. Growth doesn’t happen when you are in your comfort zone. Rest when required. Take care of your mental health. Research can be fulfilling, but it can also be demanding and if you feel like you are reaching your limit or are overwhelmed, it is OK to pause. Rest and return stronger. You don’t need to burn out to succeed. Clark Joshua Brianwong Pursue ideas. When you have an idea or if you’re curious about something – pursue it, even though it may not be perfect. I get ideas from things that are outside of health, for example, in business, such as how a company has improved its customer service. You can relate it back to your job as a health worker. Consult your community. Get as much feedback as possible from your community, because they are the ones who will benefit from the intervention, or not. Work together. Take a team science approach. You, as one person, can’t have all the skills, but you can pick up things from a colleague. For example, you might not know how to code, but someone can help you with that. Seek guidance. Find a mentor – or a peer – who pushes you and helps you stay connected to your vision.