Irene Kuo, MPH, PhD

Assistant Research Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, GWU SPHHS

Phone: (202)994-0367
Fax: (202)994-0082
Email: sphirk@gwumc.edu
Website: http://www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/faculty/kuo_irene.cfm

Current HIV/AIDS Research Activities:

• CDC-funded National HIV Behavioral Surveillance Study
• Evaluation of Routine HIV Testing in the GWU Emergency Department
• Evaluation of Viral Hepatitis Surveillance Program and co-infection with HIV in Washington, DC.
• Development of the regulatory framework for task-shifting among health care workers

Current HIV/AIDS Service Activities:

• Manuscript reviewer for JAIDS, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Journal of Urban Health, International Journal on Drug Policy.

Dr. Irene Kuo joined GWU in 2006 as an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is currently project director for the CDC-sponsored National HIV Behavioral Surveillance project, a multi-site research study that focuses on HIV risk-taking behaviors among men who have sex with men, injection drug users and heterosexuals at high risk for HIV using novel sampling techniques, such as respondent-driven sampling and venue-based sampling. Dr. Kuo brings extensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS risk behaviors, hepatitis B and C virus infections, drug-using populations, drug treatment and market factors that affect the HIV risk behaviors of drug users both domestically and internationally.

Dr. Kuo is currently the Principal Investigator for an evaluation of the DC Department of Health's Viral Hepatitis Surveillance Program and will examine HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection in the District. Dr. Kuo also currently serves as an evaluator of a routine HIV testing program in the GWU Hospital emergency room as part of the District's city-wide routine HIV testing campaign. Since arriving at GWU, Dr. Kuo has also participated in international projects dealing with the regulatory framework for the WHO-sponsored global guidelines on the ARV scale-up and task shifting in Africa and with the development of a framework to define, enumerate and inventory the global public health workforce through the Rockefeller Foundation.

Her past research includes epidemiological studies of HIV and HCV seroprevalence and risk behaviors in Pakistani drug users; an examination of missed opportunities for hepatitis B vaccination; and an evaluation of the referral of needle exchange program participants to alternative drug treatment programs.