UW News

September 30, 2010

Michaela Leslie-Rule wins Young Investigator Award for work on gender-based violence

UW Health Sciences/UW Medicine

Michaela Leslie-Rule, a 2010 master’s graduate of both the UW Evans School of Public Affairs and the School of Public Health, was honored with a Young Investigator Award this summer at the 2010 Global AIDS Conference in Vienna.


The $2,000 award funded by the International AIDS Society (IAS) and the Agence Naitonale de Recherche sur le Sida (ANRS) supports young researchers who demonstrate innovation, originality, rationale and quality in the field of HIV and AIDS research. To be eligible, the presenting author of an abstract accepted for presentation must be under 35 years of age. One prize is awarded in each of the six conference tracks.


Leslie-Rule was given the award in the Social and Behavioral Sciences track for her master’s thesis and degree project, “The Language of Love: Tanzanian Women Define Intimacy, Sexuality, and Violence in the 21st Century.”

She was recognized at the opening plenary of the conference.


“The quality of work represented by the 2010 awardees is remarkable,” said IAS President Julio Montaner. “The IAS hopes to draw the world’s attention to these individuals and to their significant scientific accomplishments, as well as to the continued need for innovation in all of the major areas of HIV and AIDS research, represented by the six conference program tracks.”


From July to December 2009, Leslie-Rule worked with Engender Health on its CHAMPION Project in Tanzania collecting data on women’s beliefs and perspectives on gender-based violence. She also made a 10-minute film on the subject called “Wanawake 8/8 Women,” which debuted at the 2010 Zanzibar International Film Festival earlier in July.


Read more about Leslie-Rule’s work in  an earlier University Week article