Yunia Mayanja is a scientist working with the HIV Interventions program of the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit and the lead for work package 1 of the EAPoC VL study being implemented among children and adolescents with unsuppressed viral load. She holds a medical degree from Makerere University and has post graduate training (MPH) from Makerere University. She has been leading the research team working with the female sex workers in Kampala, Uganda since June 2011. She has been involved in HIV vaccine preparedness studies among female sex workers and writing grants to support involvement of adolescent girls and young women in research.

In 2016, Yunia received an adolescent research scholarship to have mentored training in adolescent research at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation. Following the 2-month training, she was awarded a career development fellowship by EDCTP. The fellowship has been completed and publications are being prepared e.g., https://doi.org/10.2989/16085906.2022.2039727.

In 2018, she received a grant from IAVI and was PI (2018-2021) on a study that assessed different aspects (knowledge, preferences, and uptake) of biomedical HIV prevention interventions among 14-24-year-old adolescent girls and young women.

Yunia is an ITAPS/ IAVI Alumni who was trained in manuscript writing in 2015 at the University of California, San Francisco, and later as a mentor in 2018. She now mentors scientists writing manuscripts for submission to peer reviewed journals.