Leadership in Research
FHI's Project SEARCH team consists of four core partners—FHI, Meridian Group International, PATH and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)—and eight prominent regional research institutions. The team has more than 80 years of combined experience working in resource-constrained countries.
The partners share core values, such as a commitment to high-quality research tailored to programmatic needs; adherence to strict principles of research ethics; and sensitivity to gender, stigma and discrimination.
Family Health International
FHI is one of the world's largest nonprofit organizations conducting HIV/AIDS research. Since its inception in 1971, FHI has conducted research in partnership with national governments, regional research institutions, and local communities throughout the world to improve the health of individuals and the effectiveness of health systems. FHI has conducted thousands of behavioral, health services, health economics, and clinical research in more than 100 countries. FHI's staff includes 1,700 professionals working in offices in 37 countries and on projects in more than 80 countries.
Meridian Group International, Inc.
A woman-owned small business founded in 1997, Meridian is dedicated to advancing state-of-the-art marketing and communication activities that promote improved health, gender equality, and socioeconomic development. A special focus for Meridian is to create innovation through research and partnerships among private industry, civil society, and donor agencies that address global problems through sustainable development. Meridian's senior staff has worked on USAID projects in 48 countries.
PATH
PATH is an international, nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break long-standing cycles of poor health. By collaborating with diverse public- and private-sector partners, PATH provides appropriate health technologies and vital strategies that change the way people think and act. PATH also advances technologies for low-resource settings, strengthens health systems, and encourages healthy behaviors by working with communities to help people examine—and challenge—assumptions and traditions that may contribute to poor health. For the past two decades, PATH has worked to develop integrated responses to the AIDS epidemic, uniting strategies, funding, and knowledge across geographic and intellectual boundaries.
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUNC is an internationally recognized academic research institution. UNC brings expertise in program evaluation, biomedical sciences, epidemiology, behavioral research, and research capacity building. The TASC3 team at UNC includes:
- UNC's Carolina Population Center brings expertise in program impact evaluation and is implementing the USAID-funded MEASURE Evaluation project
- UNC's School of Medicine is researching new HIV prevention and treatment approaches
- UNC's School of Public Health is conducting HIV behavioral and intervention research, including the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and infant feeding
- UNC's School of Journalism and Mass Communication is studying the media and youth
