Cathorall Receives Fulbright US Scholar Award

Michelle Cathorall, an associate professor in the School of Health and Applied Human Sciences, housed in the College of Health and Human Services, has been selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award in Public Health for the 2025-2026 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Cathorall will spend the fall 2025 semester in Uganda implementing a malaria prevention project.

Cathorall’s research project, “Empower Health: Training Village Health Technicians for Effective Malaria Prevention,” will evaluate a community engaged model for malaria prevention, using local champions to implement the program in select villages. She will work with the local advisory board and the village health technicians (VHTs) to train the VHTs as Prevention Champions to implement and monitor the Malaria Mastery program. Data will be collected through focus groups and interviews with selected participants, VHTs, village leaders and the advisory board to assess implementation and program effectiveness. Expected outcomes include continuous implementation of Malaria Mastery program activities, and reduced incidence of malaria in the four implementation villages of Luwero District.

“Dr. Michelle Cathorall’s innovative and community-centered approach to malaria prevention in Uganda exemplifies the global impact of public health research and the values we uphold—collaboration, health equity and service,” said College of Health and Human Services Dean Jack C. Watson. “As our college’s first Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Cathorall is paving the way for future international engagement and demonstrating how academic research can create lasting change in underserved communities.”