Co-investigators, Consultants & Significant Contributors

Gregory Aarons, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego (UCSD) and co-director for the Center for Organizational Research on Implementation and Leadership (CORIL). He is another significant contributor for SMART-DAPPER. Dr.

Dickens Akena, MB, ChB, MMed, is a psychiatrist and a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the Makerere University College of Health Sciences. He is a co-investigator for SMART-DAPPER. Dr. Akena has been a co-investigator on a number of NIH-funded task-shifted studies: R01 AI099884-01(Wagner), R01 MH083568 (Wagner) and R01MH115830-01A1 (Wagner).

David Bukusi, MB, ChB, MMed, is a senior medical specialist at the Kenyatta National Hospital with a co-appointment as lecturer at the University of Nairobi Department of Psychiatry. He provides direct psychiatric care at the Kenyatta National Hospital: Mental Health Department, Mathari Hospital and at the national referral hospital Kenyatta National Hospital, and he teaches in the University of Nairobi’s Department of Psychiatry. He is a co-investigator for SMART-DAPPER. Dr.

Craig Cohen, MD, MPH, is a professor in the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences; an attending physician at San Francisco General Hospital; and co-director of the University of California Global Health Institute. He is a co-investigator for SMART-DAPPER.  His work focuses on two main areas of research at the intersection of HIV and reproductive health: 1) HIV prevention and the provision of HIV care and treatment and 2) reproductive health services in resource-limited settings.

James G. Kahn, MD, MPH, is emeritus professor at the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. He is a co-investigator for SMART-DAPPER. He has 30 years’ experience in the empirical and modeled assessment of the cost, effects and cost-effectiveness of global health interventions, programs and policies, with more than 85 publications in this area. He has taught four courses in health economics at UCSF including global health economics and decision and cost-effectiveness analysis.

Charles McCulloch, PhD, is professor and head of the Division of Biostatistics at UCSF and vice chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is a co-investigator for SMART-DAPPER. Dr. McCulloch has expertise in the development of statistical methodology and the novel application of advanced statistical methods. His focus has been on methods for correlated data, including longitudinal data models for normally or non-normally distributed outcomes and latent variable and latent class models.

Inbal (Billie) Nahum-Shani, PhD, is an associate professor in the Institute for Social Research and co-director of data science for the Dynamic Decision-Making Lab (d3) at the University of Michigan. She is a consultant for SMART-DAPPER.

Thomas Neylan, MD, is a professor of psychiatry and has been an active researcher in the study of sleep, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and associated mood disorders for the past 24 years. He is a co-investigator for SMART-DAPPER.

Simon Njuguna, MB, ChB, MMed, is a psychiatrist and director of mental health for the Kenyan Ministry of Health. He is a consultant for SMART-DAPPER. Dr. Njuguna leads implementation of Kenya mental health policy 2015-203, with a goal of attainment of the highest standards of mental health. In that role, Dr. Njuguna assesses mental health systems and develops mental health strategic and investment action plans. He focuses special emphasis on working in partnerships and collaboration with all stakeholders to improve access to quality mental health in the public sector.

Linnet Ongeri, MBChB, MMed (Psych), is a psychiatrist and a senior research officer at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). She is a co-investigator for SMART-DAPPER. She was recently appointed to the newly formed National Mental Health taskforce. Her research focus is on implementation strategies targeted for persons living in low- and middle-income countries that improve access to mental health care for depression, PTSD and substance use disorders.

Dickens Onyango, MB, ChB, is the county director of health for Kisumu, Kenya, and a medical epidemiologist. He is a co-investigator for SMART-DAPPER. He completed his Master of Science in Epidemiology in 2013 from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Nairobi in 2005. He is a co-director of the Kenya Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) site, conducting surveillance on definitive causes of death among children aged less than 5 years employing minimally invasive autopsy.

Hafsa Sentongo, MD, is Director of Mental Health at the Ugandan Ministry of Health. She is a consultant for SMART-DAPPER. 

Glenn Wagner, PhD, is a senior behavioral scientist and professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School. He is a Consultant for SMART-DAPPER. Dr. Wagner has experience with depression treatment studies for people living with HIV, including an implementation science initiative to evaluate the task-shifting model for depression treatment.