BEGIN Lab

Congratulations to our fearless BEGIN Lab Co-Director Harsha Thirumurthy on this impressive feat!

We're pleased to announce the release of our second Nudgeathon report! The two-day nudgeathon event brought together experts to co-create behavioural solutions to improve healthcare provider enrolment of eligible recipients of care to their preferred differentiated model of care (DMOC). Participants engaged with user journey maps and healthcare provider personas to identify barriers, create opportunity statements, and brainstorm intervention ideas. The teams also designed initial prototypes for further refinement and testing. Please read the full report here: https://shorturl.at/Bswn5.  

New paper in Sexually Transmitted Infections 📰 Sue Napierala, Harsha Thirumurthy, Lizzie Bair, Teniola Egbe, MPH MBE, and colleagues from the US and Kenya published the report “High prevalence of STIs among men engaged in transactional sex and alcohol use in western Kenya: important implications for STI prevention interventions.” This paper reports the baseline prevalence of HIV and other STIs among 1,500 men in Kenya who are participating in an ongoing randomized trial of an economic intervention. HIV prevalence was 9.5%, HSV-2 was 38.7%, chlamydia was 14.3%, and gonorrhea was 2.5%. The paper underscores the importance of prioritizing STI diagnostic testing and prevention among men engaged in transactional sex and heavy alcohol use. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ea5P4XCk This paper and our team’s continued research on this topic is dedicated to our longtime collaborator Dr Kawango Agot, whose leadership and passion inspired so many. Statement from the International AIDS Society: https://lnkd.in/eCBBHK5R

We love seeing BEGIN Lab representation in these pictures from the October Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics retreat! We learned so much from our colleagues and got to share our Akiba and PROTECT studies. Read about PROTECT here: https://lnkd.in/eHzT_wA3 Read about Akiba here: https://lnkd.in/ephGj8GM

📣 🌍 We are hiring a Postdoctoral fellow! Are you interested in working with a dynamic team on communicable and non-communicable disease research projects around the world? The BEGIN Lab could be the place for you! We are accepting applications on a rolling basis until January 31, 2025. Read more below: https://lnkd.in/gphczVX9 #postdoctoralfellowship #behavioraleconomics #globalhealth

📢Lab spotlight Meet BEGIN Lab research assistant, Xinyi(Bella) Min! Bella is a student research assistant working with the BEGIN Lab. She is a candidate for an MS in Social Policy and Data Analysis at the University of Pennsylvania, and she received her MF and BEc from Fudan University. Bella has worked as a policy analyst intern and data analyst assistant for non-profit organizations and joined the UN Global Compact to promote SDGs. She also served as vice minister for the student self-management committee and participated in volunteer teaching. Bella is interested in global health, public policy impact, health disparities in genders and races, sexual and reproductive health, and behavioral economics. Check-out some of the projects that Rhoda has worked on and more at: https://lnkd.in/eSfAqkYb

Thank you for sharing our B-OK video, Shawn Malone! Building on PSI’s work with B-OK bottles in South Africa, Penn's BEGIN Lab has been exploring their use in enhancing treatment adherence counseling here in Philadelphia, led by Dr. Aaron Richterman. This video was created to help medical case managers understand how B-OK bottles can support their work in counseling patients through adherence challenges. Learn more about our study: https://lnkd.in/evm2p_58 Read a recently published paper about it: https://lnkd.in/e96X_DWy

📣 🌍 We are hiring a Postdoctoral fellow! Are you interested in working with a dynamic team on communicable and non-communicable disease research projects around the world? The BEGIN Lab could be the place for you! We are accepting applications on a rolling basis until January 31, 2025. Read more below: https://lnkd.in/gphczVX9 #postdoctoralfellowship #behavioraleconomics #globalhealth

Congrats to BEGIN Lab Research Coordinator Megan Rabin, MPH, who presented at the American Public Health Association conference in Minneapolis last week! Megan presented her MPH thesis research on opportunities for a social media intervention to promote menstrual health in Nepal in the session "Global Health Innovations to Improve Equity and Resilience."

📣 🌍 We are hiring a Postdoctoral fellow! Are you interested in working with a dynamic team on communicable and non-communicable disease research projects around the world? The BEGIN Lab could be the place for you! We are accepting applications on a rolling basis until January 31, 2025. Read more below: https://lnkd.in/gphczVX9 #postdoctoralfellowship #behavioraleconomics #globalhealth