After winning a scholarship to be part of the Global Minds Project, Lynn Hendricks proved that she was a power choice. Her work recently won a global award and her helpful health research is going to change lives in many communities!
Global (07 August, 2023) — When Lynn Hendricks was chosen to be one of the great brains part of the Global Minds Project in 2019, her next chapter in helping people began. Now, her years of helpful health research have been awarded by the global community, and are set to impact communities for the best.
Four years ago, Hendricks travelled a long way from Stellenbosch University for her big opportunity overseas. Exchanging South African familiarities for Belgium’s newness, Hendricks went through what most expats go through: excitement, loneliness, unusual cold, wonder and everything in between.
But one thing that made the big leap important and all the overwhelming parts that come with that was what she’d bring back home from KU Leuven: new ways to positively impact communities through her helpful health research.
More than a Pill
While completing her PhD, the research psychologist set out to find out more about how how to help the HIV community. Hendricks focused on young women living with Perinatal HIV (people who had been infected with HIV by their mothers either during pregnancy, breastfeeding or delivery) and focused on Cape Town women from various townships through her project ‘More than a Pill: Producing the Story of Adherence to ART for Young Women Living with Perinatal HIV’.
These women also got to be co-researchers in the project.
Led by Hendricks and her supervisors (including SA’s Taryn Young with the Department of Global Health), the research told the stories that often go unheard and identified blindspots in the healthcare system for Perinatal HIV lives.
Hendricks’ research led to “a new model of adherence to treatment” as KU Leuven shared and won the Nature Award for Inclusive Health Research. Better yet, her prize money will go to developing this in the future.
Hendricks’ helpful health research may have travelled far but its roots are homegrown. And, we can’t wait to see how many people this work helps all over the world.
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