A chance meeting with a fellow scientist 27 years ago forever changed Randy Kyes’ life — catapulting him from North Carolina to Indonesia and beyond. As the founding director of the University of Washington’s Center for Global Field Study and head of the Division of Global Programs at the Washington National Primate Research Center, Kyes has spent almost three decades leading field courses on environmental and global health in a dozen countries.

New data analyses finds that a monthly vaginal ring containing an antiretroviral drug called dapivirine can cut women’s HIV risk by more than half and, in some, by 75 percent or more.

One of the researchers, Jared Baeten, a University of Washington professor of epidemiology, medicine and global health, presented the results Tuesday at the AIDS 2016 conference in Durban, South Africa.

Though the West African Ebola outbreak that began in 2013 is now under control, 23 countries remain environmentally suitable for animal-to-human transmission of the Ebola virus. Only seven of these countries have experienced cases of Ebola, leaving the remaining 16 countries potentially unaware of regions of suitability, and therefore underprepared for future outbreaks.

In May 2016, the Department of Global Health awarded fellowships to 31 outstanding graduate and professional students for fieldwork around the world, many of whom will be departing this summer.