Noelle A.

Benzekri

MD, MA, DTM&H

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bio

Dr. Benzekri is an Infectious Diseases Physician-Scientist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine. She conducts research, practices medicine, and teaches at the University of Washington. She has more than 20 years of experience collaborating with communities on clinical and public health research throughout sub-Saharan Africa. She has worked with the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, UNHCR, PATH, academic and non-profit organizations. She attended UCLA medical school and completed Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Diseases fellowship at the University of Washington. She has a DTM&H from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She received training in Applied Epidemiology at the Centers for Disease Control, and Advanced Qualitative Research Methods at the University of Oxford. 

Dr. Benzekri is Co-Investigator and Program Lead for the Food Insecurity Research Program and the Sociobehavioral Research Program for the U01, “International Epidemiologic Database to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) West Africa” (MPI: Jaquet, Ekouevi, Ofotokun). In collaboration with partners in West Africa and at the University of Bordeaux, this study uses mixed-methods to evaluate cohorts of people living with HIV and HIV-TB in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. 

In collaboration with the non-profit organization Development in Gardening (DIG), she is Principal Investigator of R21, “Leveraging Agriculture and Uniting Communities to Improve HIV Outcomes in Senegal (LAUNCH)”  to evaluate the impact of a multi-sectoral nutrition-sensitive agricultural intervention on food security, nutritional status, and HIV outcomes in the post-conflict Casamance Region of Senegal.

Dr. Benzekri is Principal Investigator of “Projet partenariat: Partnering with Traditional Healers to increase HIV testing in Senegal”. The focus of this work is the development and implementation of partnerships with traditional healers to improve the HIV care cascade in the Casamance Region of Senegal.

She is Co-Investigator on the NIH/NIAID Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID) grant, the “United World for Antiviral Research Network” (UWARN), (MPI: Van Voorhis, Gale, Rabinowitz, Wasserheit), with the goal of establishing a network of global clinical and laboratory sites to rapidly respond to emerging viral diseases. 

She is also Co-Investigator on R01, “Drug Resistance Genotypic and Phenotypic Correlates of Efavirenz and Dolutegravir based Treatment Outcomes across Non-B HIV-1 subtypes” (MPI: Frenkel, Gottlieb, Drain) with cohorts in Senegal, South Africa, and Kenya and she is Co-Investigator on R01, “Improving Diagnosis, Treatment & Detection of Drug Resistance in HIV-2 Infection” (PI: Gottlieb) in Senegal.

She serves as Senior Advisor for Impact Assessment for DIG, which includes the use mixed-methods to evaluate the impact of agricultural interventions on food security, nutrition, economic empowerment, and climate resilience in Senegal, Kenya, and Uganda. In collaboration with DIG, she is also lead investigator on a Conservation, Food, and Health grant to evaluate the intersection of food security, indigenous knowledge, and forest conservation in Western Uganda.

Dr. Benzekri is an Attending Physician on the Infectious Diseases Service at the University of Washington Medical Center and a member of the Ethics Committee at Harborview Medical Center.

She is Course Director for Qualitative Research Methods (HSERV 517) and Analytic Skills for Public Health II: Qualitative Research, Mixed-Methods, and Implementation Science (PHI 513) in the UW School of Public Health. 

research interests

Dr. Benzekri’s current research interests include:

• The use of mixed-methods and implementation studies to understand and address the sociobehavioral and cultural factors that impact HIV and TB outcomes in West Africa
• The implementation and evaluation of multisectoral nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions in sub-Saharan Africa
• The implementation and evaluation of partnerships with traditional healers to improve the early diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases
• The linkages between food security, the environment, and human health
• The impact of environmental factors on the emergence of zoonotic viruses

clinical interests

HIV, TB, Hansen's Disease, tropical medicine, fever of unknown origin, CNS infections, parasitology, zoonoses, refugee health, and ethics.

education & training

MD, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Fellowship, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Residency, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Fellowship, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

DTM&H, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England

PGCert, The University of Oxford, Oxford, England

honors

Walter E. Stamm, MD, Endowed Fellow Award (2014)

CFAR International Pilot Award (2014)

NIH Clinical Research Loan Repayment Award (2015)

Firland Foundation Clinical Pilot Award (2016)

NIH K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (2016)

CFAR New Investigator Award (2019)

First Class Honors, Distinction in Qualitative Research Methods, The University of Oxford (2021)

UW Center for Leadership and Innovation in Medical Education: Curriculum Development Award (2022)

publications