Mount Sinai Health System Announces Pilot and Youth Leader Awards
AMPATH partner Mount Sinai Health System announced the recipients of the 2026 Pilot Project and Youth Leader Awards. The pilot awards fund innovative projects aimed at improving care for Kenyan adolescents and youth. The youth leader awards honor Kenyan young adults with exciting ideas for projects to improve the health and lives of their peers.
Each pilot project has two co-principal investigators, one Kenyan faculty member from Moi University or Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, and one faculty member from an AMPATH Consortium institution. This year’s awardees, each of whom will receive $20,000 to support their projects, are:
Implementing a Structured Training Curriculum for Adolescent Peer Navigators: A RE-AIM Mixed-Methods Evaluation Across AMPATH Clinical Settings
– PIs: Nancy Amaya, PhD, MS, Moi University, and Ashley Chory, DrPH, MPH, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Growing into parenthood: Co-adapting an evidence-based parenting program with and for adolescent parents in street situations in Kenya
– PIs: Florence Jaguga, MBChB, MMed, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, and Kathleen Murphy, PhD, University of Toronto
Design and Pilot of an Integrated Intervention Package for Youth-Responsive Care in the MTRH Sickle Cell Disease Care Program
– PIs: Alexandra Coria, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Festus Njuguna, MBChB, MMed, PhD, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital
The Youth Leader Awards provide $5,000 to each award winner who will be mentored by Kenyan and international faculty. “Each of these young leaders underwent a rigorous, competitive application process, and is poised to make a real difference in the lives of their fellow youth,” said Brittany McCoy, MD, faculty lead for the AMPATH Kenya partnership at the Arnhold Institute for Global Health at Mount Sinai.
This year’s Youth Leaders are:
Derrick Wefwafwa Simiyu, Moi University
Project: Peer Mentorship Approach to Reducing Teenage Pregnancy and Improving Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Outcomes in Kapenguria, West Pokot County, Kenya
Nigel Cheruiyot, MTRH-Rafiki Centre of Excellence in Adolescent Health
Project: Cross condition peer support to strengthen psycho-social support and coping skills among adolescents and young adults at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital
Scholastica Kipruto, MTRH-Rafiki Centre of Excellence in Adolescent Health
Project: Strengthening Schools to Support for Learners Living with HIV through stigma reduction among Teachers, Nurses and Matrons within Uasin Gishu County
Ken Mwangi Njeri, MTRH-Rafiki Centre of Excellence in Adolescent Health
Project: Improving Comprehensive Knowledge on HIV to Youths 13-24 Years of Age in Communities and Schools