Former Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Judith Kokui Azumah (2020-2021) from Ghana has been awarded a Research Partnership Scholars Grant from the Boston University Clinical Translational Science Institute, Community Engagement Program. She receives the grant together with Dr. Kaku So-Armah, Associate Professor at Boston University School of Medicine. The Research Partnership Scholars Grant aims to support the development of community–academic research partnerships to lead to further funding opportunities.
Ms. Azumah and Dr. So-Armah will initially use the funding to define standards of clinical- and community-based care for substance use disorder (SUD) in Ghana and to quantify and reduce health disparities in addiction care for women and girls in the country. The longer-term goals of their partnership include normalizing and prioritizing SUD care for women and girls in Accra, Ghana, and generally increasing access to and use of effective SUD care in Ghana. They also hope to promote the representation of West Africans in mental health research, particularly at the intersection of substance use and chronic infections prevalent in the region, such as HIV.