Tarisai Murefu, a member of HPTN 084 and HPTN 084-01 study protocol teams, is the lead outreach worker with the University of Zimbabwe Clinical Trials Research Centre (UZ-CTRC) in Harare, Zimbabwe. For the past 20 years, Tarisai has immensely contributed to community sensitization, awareness campaigns, HIV/AIDS education, stakeholder/parent/guardian engagement, and recruitment and retention of study participants within the organization.

What attracted you to a career in HIV prevention research?

I lost a brother, relatives, and friends in the late 90s to HIV/AIDS. This experience prompted me to change my career from a medical claims assessor to becoming a social scientist focused on HIV/AIDS prevention. HIV prevention became my passion.

What aspect of your role do you enjoy the most?

Collaborating with diverse community stakeholders, thus expanding and deepening existing partnerships to facilitate effective community engagement in all aspects of clinical trials research, has been the most fascinating among other aspects of my role. I also enjoy giving clear, concise, and accurate HIV prevention messages, which is fundamental to identifying potential participants. All these activities have facilitated the recruitment of retainable participants and achieved accrual targets.

What have been your proudest moments as a member of the HPTN?

I played a vital role in implementing several multi-country HIV prevention trials among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and older women, young adult men, and couples at Spilhaus Clinical Research Site (CRS). My role has been to represent both research and community interests. My proudest moment was when I assisted my CRS in achieving accrual targets for the injectable prevention method in HPTN 084-01, surpassing the allocated target slot and recruiting more of these traditionally hard-to-reach young women. 

What has been the biggest challenge in working in HIV prevention research?

The biggest challenge I experienced while working in HIV prevention research was the relocation of participants to neighboring countries due to economic hardships. The site made efforts to reach out to these participants through their contact details on the locator form, and those willing to be transferred to other sites were successfully assisted.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the willingness of participants to participate in HIV research studies and the impact of HPTN 084 results on the study participants.

What volunteering or passion projects do you do outside of work?

Outside of work, I enjoy rearing and breeding roadrunner chickens, and now I am a supplier of chicks. I also have a passion for flower maintenance.