Interview With Dr. Nafisa Halim
Hello, readers! Lexicon is honoured to share the insights of Dr. Nafisa Halim, who offers valuable perspectives and suggestions for young minds just beginning their research journeys
Dr. Nafisa Halim, Research Associate Professor, Department of Global Health, BUSPH
Nafisa Halim is an applied sociologist with research interests in developing and testing interventions to improve pregnancy and childbirth outcomes among women with a history of abuse. Currently, Halim is the principal investigator of a career development award from the National Heart, Lungs, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to inform safer ways of screening pregnant women for stigmatizing diseases in antenatal care settings. Since 2009, Halim has worked on numerous IPV studies involving quantitative and qualitative methods on topics ranging from IPV correlates, consequences, and measurement methodologies. Since joining BUSPH, Halim has worked on numerous clinical trials and large-scale program evaluations in Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam, Zambia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, India, and Bangladesh. Halim has served as a principle investigator/co-Investigator on research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the World Health Organization, the United States Agency for International Development, and private foundations.
Lexicon: Many early researchers feel they need mentors to guide them, but mentorship isn’t always accessible. What strategies or resources would you recommend to students who want to start research independently?
Dr. Halim: I will be answering this question in two parts. First about finding mentor: I would suggest staggering the process. If you find some whose work you like, try conducting a research that’s very similar to what that person is currently doing. It serves multiple purposes: it makes it easier for that person to mentor you since s/he will be not going out of their way to make time to educate themselves so they can mentor you at the level you deserve (time is always a constraint). Also, my pursuing a similar line of research, you’re learning the best of what your mentors knows. Once you learn the rope, you will be able to pursue study that is closer to your interest and now the mentor will likely be more willing to collaborate since you will be helping them to branch out to a new area, if you will.
Secondly, if a mentor is not available at any rate, the next best thing would be to conduct a replication study. Ideally, and these days it’s the norm, journals are requiring authors to share data. Someone who is motivated can reach out to the authors they admire about a recent paper and related data, and can try to replicate the study using the methods articulated in the paper. Its serves multiple purposes: one, the new researcher gets to learn the rope of conducting academic research; and second, replications are good for advancing science. Or, they would replicate the study using a different dataset while following the original methods published in the paper.
Lexicon: Deciding on a research question can be challenging for beginners. How do you approach this process, and what’s your advice for students in finding research topics that are meaningful yet manageable?
Dr. Halim: Great question! For someone starting out their career as a researcher, my suggestion is to optimize manageability prior to finding meaning. To know the difference between the two, one must read a lot. Make a habit of reading one research article a week, intense reading that is.
Now to keep the question manageable, keep the question “simple.” By simple I mean shoot for discovering one additional thing with your research question. An example for that would be: let’s say we already know that 68% of HIV patients current in care experience stigma in Cape Town, South Africa. A simple question would be to see what percent of HIV patients in care experience Stigma in New Delhi, India.
There is also the type of research questions. For example, one could ask him/herself: do I want to know the what question, the why question, the how question. The what questions are generally simple to answer, especially for the ones beginning their research career.
Lexicon: For students just beginning their research journeys, what are your thoughts on starting with simpler publication types, like narrative reviews or case reports? Do these formats offer value in building foundational skills?
Dr. Halim: No writing is better than some writings. So, narrative reviews could certainly help. They certainly would help someone become a more effective communicator.
Personally, I lean toward writing research articles, but perhaps start with writing an article tacking a simpler research question (e.g., a replication study or a description/trend analysis paper).
Lexicon: Your work spans continents, addressing intimate partner violence in various cultural contexts. What motivated you to focus your research on IPV and maternal health, and was there a moment that solidified this commitment for you?
Dr. Halim: I followed evidence to wherever it took me, and it took me to violence. Originally trained as a sociologist and an economist, I was mostly interested in “human capital formation” meaning accumulation of health and education among socially and economically disadvantaged populations. My data showed that experience or fear of violence was a major impediment to seeking health or education services, and I had to first understand why violence occurs and who are most vulnerable.
Also, I believe in equal start to life, and more and more I learned about lifecourse perspective, the more I learned appreciate the role of in-utero exposures of factors that are bad for health. Kids born to mothers exposed to violence are at a disadvantage before they were born, affecting their growth and development not only during infancy but also all through adolescence years and beyond. This disturbed me to my core. So I decided to commit myself into trying to understand how we could prevent in-utero exposure to violence and how to prevent it.
Lexicon: With research experience across different countries, you’ve likely faced unexpected challenges. Could you share a memorable instance and what you learned that might benefit new researchers?
Dr. Halim: I would answer this question slightly differently. For me, the most unexpected revelation perhaps was to realize how perfectly designed science can turn imperfect, when implemented on the ground, with humans as implementers and as study subjects.
For new researchers, perhaps it’s wise to keep the above in mind, as much as we’re wired to opt for the best science. Often we may be able to recruit the best team to implement the study as designed, and when we can that’s great, but then the question remains to what extent that perfect design can be scaled up when that perfect team is no longer working in the ground.
So simplicity is key, even when it leads for us to be able to answer only simpler questions in science.
Lexicon: What project are you currently working on, and is there a way for our readers, especially those in Nagpur or nearby, to contribute or engage with your work?
Dr. Halim: Currently, I am working on developing an intervention to promote safer screening of pregnant women for any stigmatizing diseases including sickle cell disease. Anyone based in Nagpur who is interested in this topic/research/population/science or in my company as a scientist is welcome to contact me at nhalim@bu.edu (subject: Interest in your study in Nagpur).
Lexicon: For students wanting to work in fields like IPV and maternal health, what advice would you give for navigating such challenging yet crucial work?
Dr. Halim: The most important step would be to know if they are REALLY interested in this topic and then to ask oneself: why they are interested. If there is interest and a commitment to science, there will always be success in finding a mentor; training program; learning opportunities; research opportunities; publication opportunities and dissemination opportunities. One thing that may not be said enough: new researchers need mentors, mentors, too, need research help (they always have too many things to do and so appreciate any help they receive). Important is to commit to science and do the hard way of persisting even when they are hard or, at worst, monotonic.
Lexicon: In your experience, what qualities or mindsets are most essential for success in research, and how can young medical students start cultivating these early in their careers?
Dr. Halim: Qualities include those that are “philosophical” and those that are “logistical.”
Personally, I think, the first and foremost is to develop an understanding and appreciation for an “empirical” understanding of our world. This is big! Let’s think about it: Most that we envision or conceptualize in our heads, we can find a way to observe (measure) it in reality, for the most part. This is profound. The second is perhaps to appreciate the art and the power of reasoning; Karl Popper’s the Logic of Scientific Discovery was a staple a reading in grad school back in the days for a reason. The third is perhaps the ability to interpret findings, using context, and this is where all prior knowledge about so many fields, from literature to history to topical studies, come into play.
Logistically speaking, someone contemplating a career in research must be ok with being bored!! The actual work of research can be long, involving repetitions, revisions, restarts and so on. So the ability to hunker down until job gets done is necessary.
Lexicon: Do you have any other thoughts or comments for our readers?
Dr. Halim: Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts! I love doing research and knowing now the ups and downs of life as a researcher, I still maintain: I have the best job in the world. Hope you all, too, whoever is reading it would consider research as a career. We might be doing a thing or two that is actually good for the world, if we are lucky!
