-bio: Faikah obtained her BSc and BSc Hon in Applied Mathematics at Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 2008. She continued her studies to obtain a postgraduate diploma in Mathematical Sciences from the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences – South Africa in 2010, then proceeded to join the South African Centre of Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA) to obtain a Master of Science in Mathematical Sciences from Stellenbosch University in 2013. She is currently serves as SACEMA's Training Coordinator and, in this role, as the ICI3D Program Evaluator. She is also a PhD student at Stellenbosch University. She was an MMED participant in 2011, served as an MMED mentor in 2012-2014, and joined the Workshop Faculty in 2015. Her research so far has focused on the development and use of mathematical models to characterize, understand, and eventually to manage the epidemic of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in South Africa. She is currently developing a stochastic, individual-based model to simulate the impact of various HIV prevention methods on the incidence of HIV and HSV-2, and their interaction, among adolescents. She has developed a risk scoring algorithm that aims to help individuals better understand their risk of acquiring HIV and how they could decrease this risk by adopting various HIV mitigation strategies. This application has been used in a project (part of the CHAMPS project) that assessed the acceptability of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among adolescents in Masiphumelele, South Africa. The application was developed as part of her PhD.
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