Fellowship applications are open for this NIH collaborative research training grant focused on creating a cohort of highly skilled Nigerian biostatisticians with the capacity to lead and supervise high-level biostatistics activities for HIV research studies in West Africa.
Focus includes hands-on biostatistics training. Trainees will take biostatistics courses, become members of a team of biostatisticians doing HIV research at Vanderbilt, and will be assigned to HIV research projects using data from Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH).
- Junior investigators with a PhD or “all but dissertation” in statistics or related field, including mathematics and computer science
- From PhD programs in northern Nigeria, especially Bayero University Kano (BUK) or Ahmadu Bello University
- 12 months of training at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Two semesters of coursework and mentoring at Vanderbilt University
- Mentorship from faculty at AKTH/BUK and Vanderbilt
- Provides tuition, school fees, roundtrip airfare to Nashville, living expenses while in Nashville
Interested persons should contact: Dr. Nafiu Hussaini, PhD | Bayero University Kano
email: nafiu_hussaini@yahoo.com
The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH), the Vanderbilt Department of Biostatistics, and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), longstanding collaborating institutions in the U.S. and Nigeria, have partnered on a new training program from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Vanderbilt-Nigeria Biostatistics Training (VN-BioStat) program leverages other successful NIH-funded training and infrastructure programs in Kano, Nigeria (V-BRCH and V-RAMP), building upon a solid foundation of collaborations between Vanderbilt, AKTH, Bayero University Kano (BUK), and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Nigeria. The program seeks to create a cohort of highly skilled Nigerian biostatisticians with the capacity to lead and supervise high-level biostatistics activities for HIV research studies in West Africa.
Drs. Bryan Shepherd, Professor of Biostatistics at Vanderbilt; Nafiu Hussaini, Associate Professor of Mathematical Biology at BUK; and Muktar Aliyu, Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at Vanderbilt and Associate Director for Research with the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH), serve as multiple-principal investigators (MPIs) of VN-BioStat.
The program will bring two Nigerian data scientists per year (total of 10 over 5 years) to Vanderbilt to immerse them in hands-on biostatistics training for one-year fellowships. Trainees will take biostatistics courses, become members of a team of biostatisticians doing HIV research at Vanderbilt, and will be assigned to HIV research projects using data from AKTH. The program will also host an annual workshop in Nigeria, team-taught by Vanderbilt and Nigerian investigators, to provide mid-level, hands-on biostatistics training in specific statistical techniques and their applications to HIV research. The workshops will be open to HIV researchers and data scientists from West Africa.
This work is supported by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number 1D43TW012268-01.
Nafiu Hussaini, PhD, 
Bryan Shepherd, PhD