Virginia is a social anthropologist affiliated to Zambart in Zambia where she is based and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK where she is a Professor of Anthropology and Public Health Policy. Since 1991, she has worked in Zambia and elsewhere in the sub-Saharan African region.

To date her work on climate change has emerged through research on the interaction between urban systems and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure in two SSA cities (Lusaka and Cape Town), the role of climate change in poverty in Zambia and addressing female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) in urban and rural areas. The WASH and FGS research involved using Broad Brush Surveys (BBS) to rapidly assess WASH infrastructure and FGS in specific urban communities, demonstrating how BBS is an useful approach to document the relationship between people and place around a key public health issue. ASTRA will also make use of the BBS approach.

Her other areas of interest include health related stigma and the social science components of community randomized trials, mainly focusing on Tuberculosis and HIV. Other than ASTRA, her current grant portfolio includes: evaluating the impact of HIV stigma and discrimination interventions in hospitals and health worker training institutions in Zambia, Ghana and Tanzania; evaluating the acceptability of ultrasound and AI in TB diagnostics in Zambia, Mozambique, Peru and Bolivia; improving access to sexual and reproductive services for mobile, young people in South Africa and Zambia; and a research capacity building programme with Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Germany and the UK. Away from work, she is a keen gardener and a tree hugger!