GSSHealth Presents Portable HIV Testing Research at Military Health Symposium

How do you deliver HIV and STI test results to soldiers at remote West African military bases quickly, accurately, and without relying on distant labs? That question drove the research GSSHealth presented at the 2025 Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS), where senior technical and program experts Dr. Ekaterina Milgotina and Ms. Michele Merkel joined military and global health leaders to share solutions for force health protection.

The GSSHealth team’s poster, “The utility and feasibility of a portable molecular testing strategy to enable the prompt delivery of test results to participants in a national seroprevalence study in West Africa,” presented findings from multi-country HIV and STI seroprevalence studies conducted with U.S. partner militaries. The research demonstrated how portable molecular testing can deliver rapid and reliable results in resource-limited settings, a capability essential for military readiness and interoperability with partner forces.

Figure 1. GSSHealth COO Michele Merkel (Left) and Senior Data Expert Ekaterina Milgotina (Right) presenting at the the August 2025 Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) in Kissimmee, Florida.

"What excites me about this work is that it's not theoretical”, says Michele Merkel, COO of GSSHealth. “We're showing that you can bring reliable molecular testing to remote locations and get results to people fast enough to make a difference."

The symposium also spotlighted emerging priorities that align with GSSHealth’s current work: wastewater-based pathogen surveillance, drone-enabled logistics, and infectious disease challenge resolution in the African and Indo-Pacific region. GSSHealth has supported wastewater surveillance initiatives in Papua New Guinea and HIV, malaria, meningitis and TB programming across sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, and biosecurity preparedness initiatives in Eastern Europe, positioning the organization to contribute as these capabilities expand for military applications.

During sessions on portable diagnostics, data integration, and cross-sector partnerships, a consistent theme emerged: the need for adaptable tools that work in austere environments. The experience of GSSHealth in building laboratory and surveillance systems in resource-limited settings translates directly to these operational military needs.

MHSRS offered the GSSHealth team a valuable opportunity to share our research, learn from partners, and identify new ways to support military health missions. As military health priorities evolve, the GSSHealth team remains committed to bringing science-driven solutions to the challenges of force health protection worldwide.