ISK Uganda

Using Technology To Improve Public Health

Our Staff

Nyemara Novatus, Principal Investigator.

Mr. Nyemara Novatus is a practicing Counselling Psychologist, PhD Fellow, and Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), where he teaches and mentors undergraduate and postgraduate students in health psychology, behavioural medicine, and research methodology.
He is a recipient of the prestigious Mbarara University Research Training Initiative (MURTI) Fellowship, awarded for his outstanding contribution to mental health research and capacity building. Through this fellowship, he received advanced training in research design, data analysis, scientific writing, responsible conduct of research, and grant management, further strengthening his ability to lead independent and collaborative research.
Mr. Nyemara has served and continues to serve as a Research Scientist and Principal Investigator with ISKU Limited, where he leads and collaborates on several behavioural health and public mental health projects. His research interests span health psychology, mental health literacy, family functioning, alcohol use disorders, adolescent reproductive health, and psychosocial aspects of mental illness.
Through his academic and research work, Mr. Nyemara has contributed to advancing knowledge in the domains of mental health promotion, psychological well-being, and evidence-based interventions in low-resource settings. He is passionate about integrating research, teaching, and community engagement to improve mental health outcomes in Uganda and beyond.
Mr. Nyemara has contributed to several manuscripts and conference presentations addressing key public health challenges in Uganda and the broader East African region. His long-term goal is to strengthen the research– policy–practice interface in public health by translating research evidence into sustainable interventions and policy recommendations.
Mr. Nyemara’s research interests lie at the intersection of mental health, behavioral science, and reproductive health among adolescents and young adults, with a focus on improving behavioural and health outcomes through evidence-based and culturally sensitive interventions. His ongoing projects explore areas such as mental health literacy and stigma reduction in rural communities, family functioning and its influence on adolescent alcohol use disorder. As the PI on the Internet Solutions for Kids Uganda RO1 subcontract, Mr. Nyemara capitalizes on this prior experience to manage and guide the Ugandan research team.

Atukunda Moses, Administrator

Atukunda Moses provides administrative support to the Internet Solutions for Kids Uganda team. This includes monitoring the budget, administering incentives, managing human resources issues, and coordinating with colleagues at the Center for Innovative Public Health Research about budgetary issues.

Michele Ybarra MPH PhD, Director

Dr. Ybarra is a recognized researcher in technology-related health issues for young people. She has published extensively in the areas of Internet harassment and other types of online victimization, health information seeking, and research methods as they relate to technology. She also has developed and tested multiple technology-based behavior change programs both domestically and internationally. Current projects include a national longitudinal survey of youth that aims to identify youth characteristics related to the emergence of sexual violence over time (R01 CE001543; R01 HD083072); the development and testing of a text messaging-based teen pregnancy prevention program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority teen women (TP2AH000035); and the development and testing of an HIV prevention program for young adults across Uganda (R34 MH109296).

Past projects include the development and testing of Guy2Guy, a text messaging-based HIV prevention program for gay, bisexual, and queer teen men in the United States (R01MH096660); CyberSenga, an Internet-based HIV prevention program for adolescents in Mbarara, Uganda (R01 MH080662); a national survey that endeavored to better understand the positive and negative experiences of LGBT and non-LGBT youth online via a national survey (R01HD057191); the development and testing of a text messaging-based
smoking cessation program among young adults in the United States (R21CA135669) and adult smokers in Turkey (R01TW007918); as well as a longitudinal study to examine the associations between exposure to violent new media and seriously violent behavior (U49 CE000206).
Dr. Ybarra holds a doctorate in child mental health services research and evaluation from the department of mental health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She was a pre-doctoral fellow of the National Institutes of Mental Health and was a joint fellow of the American Schools of Public Health / Centers for Disease Control.