Emanueli Msuya
Emanueli Msuya is a social worker from Tanzania who co-founded and directs a local non-governmental organization called Simama Family Support. He has been a part of the IMPAACT Network for the past 10 years, starting out as Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center's (KCMC) community representative in 2013 and then as a member of the IMPAACT Community Advisory Board (ICAB) Leadership Group two years later. In 2018, he became the international vice-chair of the ICAB.
In April 2021, Emanueli became the chair of the ICAB Leadership Group. He is also a member of the IMPAACT Community Partners (CP) team and a community representative of the IMPAACT Scientific Leadership Group (SLG).
Emanueli is most interested in community outreach, working with young adults who are affected by or living with HIV, and making clinical research more easily understandable and accessible to members of Tanzanian communities.
What have you enjoyed most about working with the IMPAACT Network?
I have really enjoyed getting to share my perspectives as a community representative. I have always appreciated how much value is placed on community voices and input when it comes to IMPAACT studies.
As ICAB Chair, what are your immediate plans for the Network?
I want to be a mentor for other community representatives and help them as much as I can during their time with IMPAACT.
What are your biggest goals or hopes for the ICAB and/or IMPAACT Community outreach in the next few years?
I hope to bridge the divide between the communities IMPAACT represents and the researchers who conduct our studies. I hope that by doing that, I can help to make our research more accessible and easily understandable by not only study participants but also the general public that may be affected by our research outcomes in the future.
What has been the most defining experience so far in your career?
I have always wanted to be directly involved in community work and through IMPAACT, that dream came to life. It helped me to learn and define community needs and find ways to meet them. Those skills have proven very helpful as I have been able to apply them directly to my work as a nonprofit director.
I also still have long way to go, but, IMPAACT meetings (face to face and virtual) have played a big role in me gaining confidence and improving my public speaking skills.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?
I enjoy producing music at my home studio called "Street Lab Records."