Rupali J. Limaye, PhD, MPH, MA

mthomp7 — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 20:17:51 +0000

Rupali J. Limaye, PhD, MPH, MA mthomp7 Mon, 10/21/2024 - 16:17

Associate Professor, Global and Community Health

Contact Information

rlimaye@gmu.edu

CV

Biography

Rupali J. Limaye, PhD, MPH, MA, is an Associate Professor. She is seen as an expert in vaccine behavior and decision-making, including vaccine hesitancy and acceptance. Primarily focusing on infectious diseases, Dr. Limaye is a social and behavioral scientist and health communication scholar. Her mixed-method work examines how various influences affect health behavior and how to leverage those influences to affect positive behavior change. She also studies how health information can best be communicated to individuals in different contexts and through different channels. In her 20 years of working in global health, she has worked in more than 30 countries from both research and implementation perspectives, on topics including immunization, family planning, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and alcohol, and teaches classes on global disease program and policies, misinformation, health behavior change, and persuasive communication. She received her PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also holds an MPH in global health, an MA in international affairs, a BA in political science, and a BS in journalism.

Research Interests

Vaccine behavior
Vaccine acceptance
Misinformation
Maternal and child health
Adolescent health

Honors and Awards

Full Tuition Scholarship, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2008-2012)
Top Four Paper Award, Health Communication Division, International Communication Association (2010)
Special Projects Award, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2010; 2011)
Dean’s Teaching Fellowship, Zanvyl School of Arts & Sciences, Johns Hopkins �鶹�� (2010-2011)
Field Research Award, Center for Global Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2010-2011)
Predoctoral Training Grant, National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health (2010-2012)
Outstanding Teacher Award Nominee, Department of Health, Behavior & Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2013-2014)
Outstanding Teacher Award, Department of Health, Behavior & Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2014-2015)
Excellence in Teaching, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2014-2015)
Lipitz Public Health Policy Faculty Award, Johns Hopkins Institute for Health and Social Policy (2018-2019)
Excellence in Teaching, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2019-2020)
Discovery Award, Johns Hopkins �鶹�� Office of the Provost (2021)
Excellence in Teaching, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2021-2022)
Excellence in Teaching, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2022-2023)

Select Publications

Guillaume, D., Meyer, D., Waheed, D. E. N., Schlieff, M., Muralidharan, K., Chou, V. B., & Limaye, R. (2023). Factors influencing the prioritization of vaccines by policymakers in low-and middle-income countries: a scoping review. Health policy and planning, 38(3), 363-376.
Limaye, R. J., Holroyd, T. A., Blunt, M., Jamison, A. F., Sauer, M., Weeks, R., ... & Gellin, B. (2021). Social media strategies to affect vaccine acceptance: a systematic literature review. Expert review of vaccines, 20(8), 959-973.
Sauer, M. A., Truelove, S., Gerste, A. K., & Limaye, R. J. (2021). A failure to communicate? How public messaging has strained the COVID-19 response in the United States. Health security, 19(1), 65-74.
Limaye, R. J., Sauer, M., Ali, J., Bernstein, J., Wahl, B., Barnhill, A., & Labrique, A. (2020). Building trust while influencing online COVID-19 content in the social media world. The Lancet digital health, 2(6), e277-e278.
Dudley, M. Z., Halsey, N. A., Omer, S. B., Orenstein, W. A., T O'Leary, S., Limaye, R. J., & Salmon, D. A. (2020). The state of vaccine safety science: systematic reviews of the evidence. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 20(5), e80-e89.
Professional Affiliations
Steering Committee, WHO HPV Implementation Research Group
Member, Wellcome Trust TB Vaccine Advisory Group
Committee Member, US National Vaccine Advisory Committee, Subcommittee on Vaccine Safety
National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Societal Experts Action Network
Advisory Council Member, Sabin Vaccine Institute Vaccine Acceptance Research Network

Degrees

PhD, Public Health, Johns Hopkins �鶹��
MPH, Global Health, The George Washington �鶹��
MA, International Affairs, The George Washington �鶹��
BS, Journalism, �鶹�� of Kansas
BA, Political Science, �鶹�� of Kansas

Kakenya Ntaiya speaks her truth at Mason’s annual Sojourner Truth Lecture

Shayla Brown — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 18:51:25 +0000

Kakenya Ntaiya speaks her truth at Mason’s annual Sojourner Truth Lecture Shayla Brown Wed, 03/22/2023 - 14:51

In This Story

LaNitra M. Berger, PhD

Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya, guest speaker at George Mason �鶹��'s Sojourner Truth Lecture. Photo by Shayla Brown/Strategic Communications.

Kakenya Ntaiya’s life was set to follow the traditional Kenyan path of ending school early in preparation for marriage and motherhood at the age of 15, but she had a different dream.

Ntaiya, who was George Mason �鶹��’s 2023 Sojourner Truth Lecture guest speaker on March 2, is the founder of Kakenya’s Dream, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to educating and advocating for young girls across rural Kenya.

“I’m really grateful to be here as we are ending the celebration of Black History Month, and also welcoming Women’s History Month since they’re two of the entities that I have within me,” she said. “In communities like ours, you find that the place of a woman is pretty low.”

About 50 people were in attendance during the lecture. When Ntaiya was asked why it was so important for a Black feminist to also be committed to health, she responded, “Health is everything, especially mental health, but general health is everything.”

“I grew up in a community where about 40 percent of young girls between the age of 15 and 19 give birth, 50 percent are married off during childhood, 80 percent undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), often without anesthesia,” said Ntaiya, who also was subjected to the procedure in Kenya where it is considered a rite of passage to womanhood.

“I was lucky to survive because most girls die from bleeding,” she said. “There are consequences for the bodies of these young girls.”

Despite having been subjected to FGM, Ntaiya made a deal with her father to let her forgo marriage and finish her education, promising her rural Kenyan community that she would go to school in the United States and use her education to help the village in exchange for their support.

“The commitment that Kakenya has to supporting women and girls internationally is unparalleled,” said LaNitra Berger, director of Mason’s African and African American Studies Program. “I have so much respect for the organization that she runs, and the ways in which she is completely dedicated to the cause of women and girls’ education.”

Ntaiya said she was driven to make a difference to help end child marriage in Kenya, in the absence of intervention from NGOs or other aid organizations.

“The government of course had laws in Kenya [that said we're] not supposed to be married before 18, but those are just laws in the box that are not implemented,” said Ntaiya.

In addition to educating girls and women on various topics, Kakenya’s Dream also gives boys and men the tools to help them be allies for women battling cultural norms.

“They now speak out against the practices [of the past] and we have a better future with the younger generations now sensitized about the harm of FGM,” said Ntaiya. “Young men learning about this are going to marry a woman that is not cut, and that is where we start seeing the generational change that will break the norms that have been there thus far.”

Topics

Sojourner Truth Lecture

African and African American Studies

Guest Speaker

Access to Health Services

adolescent health

Women's Health

Women's History Month

Campus News