High Impact Field-Based Interventions Lab (HiFi Lab) is a multi-disciplinary scientific hub that uses research to identify social, structural, behavioral and biomedical determinants of HIV infection among African and African diaspora communities. As a mission, HiFi Lab is dedicated to reducing and reconciling global disparities in HIV infection through health equity and cultural empowerment.
The lab is made up of implementation science experts, early career investigators, undergraduate and graduate students.
Professor LaRon Nelson, Dean of Global and Planetary Health, Yale School of Nursing is the principal investigator and global director of the lab, while Dr. Wale Ajiboye – Senior research associate- is the lead for the Toronto HiFi site. The lab has produced several emerging scholars who have become an asset to the academic, public health and research community in Ontario/Canada, and who still maintain relationship or link with HiFI lab.
Wale has a background in Pharmacy having obtained a BPharm in Pharmacy, and a PhD in Clinical Pharmacy. He has worked as a Clinical Pharmacy practitioner, educator and researcher in world class private and public academic hospitals for up to 2 decades.
His research interest is focused on improving the quality of medication use through the development and evaluation of complex interventions targeted at patients, healthcare providers, and healthcare systems. He is currently working in collaboration with the Principal Investigator to evaluate the impact of a web-based decision support in reducing decisional conflict and improving adherence to PrEP. He is the Lead for the Evidence For Action Team in HiFi lab, and has a coordinating role for the Toronto-to-Zero working group for African, Caribbean and Canadian Black.
Dr. Nelson is the Independence Foundation Associate Professor of Nursing and Associate Dean of Global Affairs and Planetary Health at Yale University. He is also an affiliate scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
Dr. Nelson’s work spans multiple countries where he is focused on efforts to reduce racial disparities in HIV incidence, treatment and viral suppression in African and African Diaspora communities in the United States, Canada, Ghana, and Uganda. Dr. Nelson is an elected Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a Fellow in the New York Academy of Medicine. He has been honored by professional nursing organizations, including the Excellence in HIV Prevention Award by the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care and the President’s Trailblazer Award by the National Black Nurses Association. His research has been sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, HIV Prevention Trials Network, and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Adolescent Health and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Urban Health.
Sylvia Rahman is an undergraduate research volunteer at the Hi Fi interventions Lab. She is a third year BScN nursing student at Ryerson University. Sylvia works with Toronto Public Health as a peer leader to deliver diabetes health promotion and prevention education in low income neighborhoods. She is an executive for her university’s mental health association, SMASH, and a third year mentor for incoming undergraduate students. Sylvia’s interests in the HiFi Lab are attributable to the stigma and health disparities of the South Asian community, as a result of lack of awareness in health care and promotion. Being of South Asian background herself, she has first-hand experience of witnessing her community being marginalized because of certain ailments, including HIV.
Sylvia believes the Hi Fi Lab is a gateway to addressing these issues and creating culturally appropriate care. As part of the team, she hopes to gain comprehensive knowledge and strategies through research and informative workshops that would help her improve her own practice as a future health care practitioner. She hopes to improve her awareness of how the health system marginalizes certain communities and work to devise and implement effective interventions to combat it. Sylvia has a strong desire to learn and is determined to work hard to create change.
Dr. Dijiadeu is a Postdoctoral Fellow in HIV Implementation Science and Health Research Methodologies at McMaster University, department of Health Research Methods Evidence and Impact under the supervision and mentorship of Drs Lawrence Mbuagbaw and LaRon Nelson respectively. He is also a visiting researcher with the High Impact Field-based Intervention (HiFi Lab) at St Michael’s Hospital, Canada and Yale University, USA. He was previously Postdoctoral Fellow working with Dr LaRon Nelson at the University of Rochester and Yale University in the USA respectively, both affiliated with a St Michael’s Hospital, Centre for Urban Health Solution (CUHS) in Toronto Canada.
Dr. Dijiadeu comes into Public Health and Epidemiology with a MSc in Biotechnology Engineering, a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (immunology) and more than 13 years of experience in health care as a Clinical Research Manager. his long term goal is to become an independent Scientist in public health/community-based research in HIV/STD/STI prevention, intervention and care. He intends to use Clinical Research and Qualitative/Quantitative Research Methodologies to prevent incidence and improve HIV patients’ access to quality care and adherence to treatment by addressing some of the common factors associated with HIV: immune system and inflammatory response, health disparity and inequity, culture, sex orientation, religion, geography, language and discrimination. His research will also help in knowledge translation to policy makers, community leaders, people living with or affected by HIV and health care providers with the opportunity to have a global impact on the epidemic.
Fiqir Worku is a Masters of Health Services Research student with a health policy emphasis at the University of Toronto. She previously earned her BSc in Health Studies with a Philosophy minor and a Health Research Specialization from the University of Waterloo. During her undergraduate career she was heavily involved in student activism and was awarded the prestigious provincial Lincoln M. Alexander award for her leadership in creating the University of Waterloo’s first-ever student run service to address racism and xenophobia. Fiqir is also a CGS-M scholar and is conducting a graduate thesis on the COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Black communities in the Greater Toronto Area. With her political background as a former Constituency Assistant, Fiqir is interested in further examinations of the societal conditions that cause health inequities to occur and allow them to persist in our society. Her research interests include: health literacy & communication, community-based research, health policy, and the social determinants of health.
Abban Yusuf is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto studying Physiology and Global Health. She is interested in looking at deficiencies in biological, social and behavioural factors a contribute to health inequities. As a volunteer in the HiFi Lab, Abban is working on projects that look at potential barriers to HIV treatment and care as well as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake in Black populations. She is also involved in the development and implementation of interventions that address emerging barriers and inequities in mainstreaming PrEP prescription. In addition, alongside other researchers in the HiFi Lab, she is engaged in literature reviews and the development of manuscripts for publication.
Abban’s research interests lie in exploring the factors that determine the susceptibility, transmission and prevention of major infections like HIV. Through her studies and research, she hopse to help reveal barriers and inequities in the healthcare system that impact HIV testing, prevention, treatment and care among Black communities in Canada. She looks forward to growing as a critical thinker, problem solver and researcher while using her skills to contribute to the HiFi Lab’s projects in a meaningful way.