Sharlaa Badal-faesen

Dr. Sharlaa Badal-Faesen has more than 15 years of experience in the conduct of clinical research and treatment in HIV, HIV co-infectious diseases, and TB. Sharlaa Badal-Faesen has completed over 40 phases of I-IV studies as an investigator and 21 as a principal investigator. Since Sharlaa Badal-Faesen's inception as clinical research site (CRS) leader in 2013, the CRS has recruited a total of 1512 participants with consistently high data performance scores and a loss to follow-up of less than 1%. The ACTG Network Data Management Center statistics indicate the CRS has the highest participant numbers in the study and the second-highest accrual site at the network from December 2013 to August 2019.

Sharlaa Badal-Faesen has served on two ACTG sub-committees, four ACTG protocol teams, and as a vice-chair of the ART Safety and Monitoring Committee. The CRS staff team serves or has served on network sub-committees, working groups, protocol teams, and transformative scientific groups. At the request of the ACTG, the site team has mentored 4 international clinical research sites to date.

Although protocol and DAIDS/ACTG network compliance training is conducted on a weekly basis, Sharlaa Badal-Faesen's senior management team is subject specialists within their field and autonomously manages their respective departments. Sharlaa Badal-Faesen's open-door policy further enables consultation sessions to address bottle-neck operational matters whenever the need arises.

Sharlaa Badal-Faesen serves as the expert consultant on the Helen Joseph Hospital’s (HJH) 3rd line clinic and provides technical assistance to the HJH, the Themba Lethu Clinic (one of the largest HIV treatment clinics in Southern Africa and adjacent to the CRS), and 15 of the local department of health clinics in the surrounding neighborhood. Sharlaa Badal-Faesen attends regular Community Advisory Board meetings to ensure the respectful engagement of the community’s concerns and progress on the outcomes and benefits of the research conducted at the site. As a joint-appointed academic member of staff at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Witwatersrand, Sharlaa Badal-Faesen afforded institutional support through the CRS affiliation with the School of Internal Medicine. In acknowledgment of Sharlaa Badal-Faesen's research experience, Sharlaa Badal-Faesen was appointed as a member of the Wits internationally recognized Institutional Review Board – the Wits HREC Committee. As CRS Leader, Sharlaa Badal-Faesen remains committed to attaining continued optimal site performance at the ACTG network.