Elizabeth Kelvin

Neglected and Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health

Elizabeth Kelvin is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (SPH).  She is also a Researcher at the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health and the CUNY SPH Center for Immigrant, Refugee and Global Health. She is an infectious disease epidemiologist by training, an interest that began while serving for 2+ years as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay. Dr. Kelvin also spent a year teaching English in South Korea, was the Teaching Assistant for Epidemiology and Biostatistics for the inaugural cohort of MPH students at BRAC University in Bangladesh, and she spent a semester during college at the Universidad Autónima de México in Mexico City.  

 

Her research has focused on infectious diseases, primarily in low- and middle-income countries.  She was the Project Director of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating albendazole treatment for patients with neurocysticercosis (NCC) conducted in Ecuador (NINDS R01-NS39403, PI: Hauser) that was considered one of only two high quality trials on NCC treatment by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) (See: https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/66/8/e49/4885412?login=false).   Currently she is the Principal Investigator (PI) on a grant trying to understand the variation in the evolution and reaction to treatment of NCC parasitic cysts even within the same person (NINDS 1R03NS111189-01A1) and a study looking at the potential to study neglected infectious diseases such as NCC within the United States (PSC CUNY  65469-00 53).  She has also conducted a number of studies on HIV/STI risk, prevention, testing and treatment in Asia and Africa, and was the PI for three RCTs evaluating the impact of adding oral HIV self-testing as an HIV testing option in a roadside clinic system in Kenya that serves truck drivers, sex workers and roadside communities.  These studies were conducted in consultation with the National AIDS and STIs Control Program (NASCOP) at the Kenya Ministry of Health to help inform their policy on HIV self-testing and soon after these and other related studies in Kenya were completed, HIV self-test kits were approved for use in Kenya.

 

Dr. Kelvin has published over 80 manuscripts in peer review journals and co-edited a statistics textbook.  For a complete list of her publications, see: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=FmDX4PAAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate.  

 

Research Focus Areas

Neglected and emerging infectious diseases, neurocysticercosis, HIV, STIs, global health

Key Organizational Relationships

  • Adjunct Associate Professor, Hofstra/Northwell Health, New York, NY
  • Member, Editorial Board, Annals of Epidemiology
  • Researcher, CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health
  • Researcher, CUNY SPH Center for Immigrant, Refugee and Global Health

Training/Degrees

PhD in Epidemiology

Columbia University, New York, NY

 

MPhil in Epidemiology

Columbia University, New York, NY

 

MPH in Epidemiology

Columbia University, New York, NY

 

MA in Latin American Studies

Tulane University, New Orleans, LA

 

BA in Psychology

University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Select Publications

Select publications on neurocysticercosis:

Carpio A, Kelvin EA, Bagiella E, Leslie D, Leon P, Andrews H, Hauser WA, and the Ecuadorian Neurocysticercosis Group. The effects of albendazole treatment on neurocysticercosis: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 79(9): 1050-1055, 2008.

Carpio A, Chang M*, Zhang H, Romo ML, Jaramillo A, Hauser WA, Kelvin EA. Associations among albendazole treatment, cyst evolution, and seizures in neurocysticercosis.  Epilepsia, 60(9): 1820-1828, 2019.

Montgomery MA*, Ramos M*, Kelvin EA, Carpio A, Jaramillo A, Hauser WA, Zhang H.  A longitudinal analysis of albendazole treatment effect on neurocysticercosis cyst evolution using multistate model. TRSTMH, 113(12): 781-788, 2019.

Select publications on HIV self-testing

Kelvin EA, George G, Mwai E, Nyaga E, Mantell JE, Romo ML*, Odhiambo JO, Starbuck L*, Govender K. Offering Self-Administered Oral HIV Testing to Truck Drivers in Kenya to Increase Testing: a Randomized Controlled Trial.  AIDS Care, 30(1):47-55, 2018.

Kelvin EA, George G, Kinyanjui S, Mwai E, Romo ML*, Oroko F, Odhiambo  JO, Nyaga EN, Govender K Mantell JE.  A Randomized Controlled Trial to Increase HIV Testing Demand among Female Sex Workers in Kenya through Announcing the Availability of HIV Self-Testing via Text Message.  AIDS and Behavior, 23(1):116-125, 2018.

Kelvin EA, George G, Kinyanjui S, Mwai E, Romo ML*, Oroko F, Odhiambo  JO, Nyaga EN, Govender K Mantell JE.  Announcing the availability of oral HIV self-test kits via text message to increase HIV testing among hard-to-reach truckers in Kenya: a randomized controlled trial.  BMC Public Health, 19 (1): 7, 2019.

 

(*student author)