Dr Anna-Ursula Happel

Affiliations

1. Associate Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
2. Senior Research Officer in the Division of Immunology

Key Expertise

HIV, HPV, Microbiome, Neurodevelopment, Live biotherapeutics

Main Research Focus

Anna-Ursula leads multiple research projects focused on improving mucosal health of women, and the intersection of reproductive health, mucosal microbiota and infant immunity and neurodevelopment, with close collaborations within South Africa, Kenya and the United States.

Anna-Ursula's long-term career vision is to actively contribute to the development of locally implementable intervention strategies and policies to improve maternal and child health in Southern Africa and beyond.

Anna-Ursula's is passionate about creating enabling environments and mentoring the next generation of African scientists.

Most Significant Paper Authored in 2024

Natural history of high-risk human papillomavirus in Kenyan and South African women: Implications for vaccination campaigns and cervical cancer screening programs

Happel, A.-U., Budiawan, E., Onono, M., Innes, S., Palanee-Phillips, T., Heuvel, J., Rakiep, A., Kellow-Webb, S., Ongere, J., Wakhungu, I., Mkhize, Z., Kapa, L.-D., Sigcu, N., Dabee, S., Nair, G., Scoville, C., Mugo, N. R., Williamson, A.-L., Passmore, J.-A. S., Jaspan, H. B., & Heffron, R. (2024)

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines and DNA testing roll out in resource-constrained settings. We evaluated the natural history of HPV infections in African women to contribute to normative guidance. We found a high prevalence of high-risk HPV, emphasising that HPV vaccination, screening, and testing campaigns in Africa are important. Nonvaccine HPV-35 was as common as HPV-18, suggesting the need to supplement current vaccines with this genotype. High-risk HPV clearance was also common, highlighting that clear messaging is needed from health care providers to patients while discussing HPV DNA testing results.