Sarah Benki-Nugent

With expanded availability of pediatric HIV testing and treatment, survival in HIV-infected children has greatly improved; however best practices for optimizing the long-term neurodevelopmental trajectory and psychosocial well-being of HIV-infected children remain undefined. Dr. Benki-Nugent’s overarching research goals are to improve neurodevelopmental, growth, and health outcomes in HIV-infected children, and to develop scale-able strategies to improve child developmental outcomes in resource-limited settings.

Her ongoing studies will determine the extent and correlates of neurocognitive impairment in HIV-infected children who either received antiretroviral therapy (ART) from infancy or who were HIV-diagnosed later in childhood. She is also involved in a study to determine the impact of home air pollution on respiratory illness, neurocognitive outcomes, and growth in HIV-infected children in Kenya.