Nitika Pai

Nitika Pai is a Senior Scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University. She leads the Global Implementation Research program focused on point-of-care diagnostics and digital health innovations for HIV, STIs, and global health equity.

• Primary Affiliations:
  • Senior Scientist, RI-MUHC
  • Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, McGill University
  • Division of Clinical Epidemiology, MUHC

Her research addresses digital health innovations like the HIVSmart! and AideSmart! apps, which improve HIV/STI testing accessibility, linkage to care, and retention in treatment. She emphasizes implementation science to bridge gaps between diagnostic technologies and equitable healthcare systems, particularly in low-resource settings like South Africa and India.

Recent publications highlight trends in multiplexed point-of-care diagnostics for STBBIs, cost-utility analyses of HIV self-testing, and digital health's role in pandemic preparedness. These works span disciplines including infectious diseases, clinical epidemiology, public health, and biomedical ethics.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Accelerating Science Award (ASAP) Recipient (2013)
  • Canadian Women in Global Health (2018, 2020)

Pai's lab collaborates on global health projects, including unsupervised HIV self-testing programs, tuberculosis diagnostic frameworks, and wearable device applications in infectious disease management. Her work has been featured in major media outlets and international conferences.