Dr Moleen Zunza, an expert in the field of breastfeeding by HIV positive mothers, received the prestigious Janssen/CTN International Postdoctoral Fellowship earlier this year to further her research in this field.

With this fellowship, Zunza plans to build on her research on the promotion of breastfeeding by HIV infected mothers conducted for her PhD degree. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the Biostatistics Unit of the Centre for Evidence Based Health Care at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Stellenbosch University (SU).

She will run a pilot clinical trial, entitled 'Feasibility and effect of interactive weekly mobile phone text messaging and motivational interviewing in promoting and sustaining continued breastfeeding by HIV infected woman'. 

"My interest in this topic started when I did research for my PhD degree," she said. As part of this research, Zunza conducted a prospective cohort study of HIV-exposed uninfected infants to evaluate HIV positive mothers' self-selection of either formula or breast-feeding and the influence on the infant's growth or hospitalisation due to infectious diseases.

Zunza received the degree PhD in Paediatrics from SU in March this year. What makes this achievement remarkable is that she also received the qualification BCom Honours in Applied Statistics later that same day. 

The goal of the Janssen Fellowship is to prepare individuals for a career in health economics and outcomes research within the healthcare industry or academia. Zunza's fellowship is a collaborative research project between SU and McMaster University in Canada.