Claire Keene

Current Research

As a South African clinican with a background in programme development and implementation, my research has focused on examining people's engagement with care, particularly with HIV services in South Africa. Understanding how people engage with health systems over time is crucial to adapting service structure to respond to the changing needs the people who use them. I am particularly interested in applying precision public health principles to explore the applications of routine data in stratifying the people on antiretroviral treatment for more targeted, person-centred intervention. 

I co-lead ON-THE-MOVE in collaboration with the University of Cape Town and the University of Washington: this is a seed-funded project to map the scale and impact of geographic and inter-facility mobility on engagement with HIV care, and co-design an intervention to support mobile people to remain sustainably engaged. I am also a co-investigator on an NIH-funded study trialing a novel model of care for people with a recent history of disengagement, in order to support better long-term engagement in Gugulethu, South Africa (SUStained HIV Treatment Adherence After Interruption; SUSTAIN2). In particular, I am looking at the implementation of the model and for whom, how, and why it might (or might not) work. These projects could help to direct the development of resource-efficient, differentiated services for people not coping with current services.

Through these projects we are working to create an equitable research ecosystem that can support meaningful impact: working with community and health department partners to support knowledge exchange across the Global South, trainings, co-design and co-ownership of the research agenda, and explicit discussion of the collaboration structure.

Education

DPhil in Clinical Medicine University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine. St John's College (United Kingdom). 2020-2024

Thesis: Exploring engagement with antiretroviral care for people living with HIV in a high burden setting in South Africa

MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine (with distinction) University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine. Lincoln College (United Kingdom). 2016-2017 

Thesis: Competing-risk approach to modelling length of stay in severe malaria patients in South-East Asia and the implications for planning of hospital services.

Diplomas in

- Public Health: Faculty of Public Health (United Kingdom). 2022

- Tropical Medicine and Hygiene: Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom). 2017

- HIV Management: The Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (South Africa). 2016

MBBCh (with distinction) University of the Witwatersrand, Health Sciences Faculty (South Africa). 2007-2012

Previous Experience

Independent consulting. 2021-2025

HIV medical activities manager, then project medical referent (medical coordinator) for Médecins Sans Frontières Khayelitsha, South Africa. 2018 to 2020

Co-principal investigator then co-investigator for the AntiRetroviral Therapy In Second-line: investigating Tenofovir-lamivudine-dolutegravir (ARTIST) trial. Khayelitsha, South Africa. 2018 to 2020.

Research assistant for the Oxford Health Systems Collaborative, University of Oxford. 2017 to 2018

Medical doctor for the South African Department of Health. 2013-2016.

Founder and co-owner of Study Doctor Tutoring. 2009-2019