Research and Training Programs

In collaboration, the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) in Mozambique and the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) have partnered to will establish the Vanderbilt-Mozambique Biomedical Informatics (VM-BMI) training and research program, the first of its kind in Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) African countries, with a specific focus on HIV. BMI uses computational and information sciences approaches primarily in biology and human health. VM-BMI will have several components.

Building on the success of a pilot program training traditional healers to initiate HIV counseling and testing, the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health and the University of Witwatersrand have partnered to expand healer-initiated HIV testing and linkage to care in South Africa.The study team will conduct a cluster, randomized, controlled trial comparing healer-initiated HIV counseling and testing to the standard of care in rural South Africa by utilizing an existing and trusted resource — traditional healers.

Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) and collaborators Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) and Bayero University (BUK) have partnered to establish the Vanderbilt-Nigeria Research Ethics Training Program (V-NET). The program is a comprehensive initiative that encompasses curricular development, didactic coursework, skills development, mentoring, and practicum experiences designed to build capacity for the ethical design, conduct, and oversight of genetic and genomic research in Nigeria.

The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH), Hanoi Medical University (HMU), and the Vietnam National Cancer Institute (VNCI) have partnered on a new training program from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health. The Vanderbilt-Vietnam Genetic Epidemiology Training Program (V2- GENE) is an initiative to train scholars in the genetic epidemiology of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). 

Under the program, Molemolemo: Building Research Administration Excellence in South Africa, grant administrators from the Vanderbilt Institute for Global facilitate advanced research capacity through training and implementation of a structured grants management course with administrative leaders from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). A significant focus and output of the collaboration with Aurum is the in-house development of a structured grants management training course for non-US-based organizations, which includes essential and elective modules. 

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).

Strokes in sickle cell anemia (SCA), particularly in children living in Africa, are associated with significant morbidity and an increased risk of premature death. In the US, primary stroke prevention in children with SCA involves screening for elevated transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) velocity coupled with regular blood transfusion therapy for those with elevated velocities. However, regular blood transfusion therapy is not feasible in Africa due to inadequate supply of safe blood and the reluctance of parents to accept regular blood transfusion therapy for their children.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common genetic disease, affecting about 25 million people worldwide. Approximately 150,000 Nigerian children are born each year with sickle cell disease (SCD), making it the country with the largest burden of SCD in the world. Recent advancements in care for children with SCA have translated into improved survival of children in both high and low-resource settings. However, more complications of SCD are seen in those who survive to adulthood.

The University of Liberia College of Health Sciences is the leading educational institution for developing Liberia’s clinicians, researchers, health policymakers and innovators.

PI: Martin C. Were, M.D., M.S. 

Principal Investigators: Timothy Sterling, MD Bruno Andrade Thomas Hawn

The West African Ebola outbreak of 2014-2015 exposed the fragility of Sierra Leone’s health system and highlighted the need for further investments to ensure its future capability of responding to a disease outbreak of this magnitude.

The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) in Kano, Nigeria have received a federal grant to study the factors associated with microalbuminuria among participants in an ongoing clinical trial of genetically at-risk HIV-positive adult Nigerians. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) grant will provide $2.2 million over the next four years.

Principal Investigator: Edwin Trevathan, MD, MPH

Traditional healers, community-based partners with the national health system of South Africa, are exposed to patient blood an average of 1,500 times during their careers due to the practice of delivering herbal remedies via herbs rubbed into dozens of sub-cutaneous cuts. The purpose of this proposal is to compare two implementation strategies to increase consistent use of PPE: (1) a health care worker provided training program followed by 3 educational outreach and coaching visits at the healer's place of practice vs.

Young people living with HIV (Y-PLWH) have poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy and engagement in HIV care, making HIV the leading cause of death for African adolescents. Depression and psychological distress are much more common among Y-PLWH than in the general population, and are associated with significantly worse adherence to care and treatment when compared to Y-PLWH without these co-morbid conditions. Thus, untreated depression and severe psychological distress are important contributors to poor HIV outcomes in this population.

The project connects Vanderbilt researchers across disciplines in order to understand how often people living with HIV move within or outside of the state, and if this mobility is associated with HIV outcomes.

South Africa has more HIV/AIDS patients than any other country and is home to the world’s largest antiretroviral program. According to the World Bank, as of 2018 the prevalence of HIV among South Africans ages 15 to 49 was 20.4%. Nearly one in three pregnant women attending antenatal care in South Africa is living with HIV. As South Africans with HIV move around the country, there is a risk they will disengage from the health care system or otherwise become lost to follow-up care.

Project Details: NIH Reporter

Principal Investigator(s):  Martin Were, M.D., M.S. David Wright, Ph.D. 

Building on the partnership with University of Liberia, College of Health Sciences (ULCHS), the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) will develop a develop a one-year research ethics education program for members of four institutional review boards (IRBs) in Monrovia, Liberia. Research education and training activities will adapt to the Liberian context from the well-established Collaborative Research Ethics Education (Formação Colaborativa em Etica na Pesquisa, FoCEP) Program for Mozambique.

Project Details: NIH Reporter

Principal Investigator(s): Timothy R. Sterling, M.D. Valeria Cavalcanti Rolla, M.D., Ph.D.

In South Africa, HIV testing has been undermined by HIV stigma, distrust in the allopathic health system, a preference for traditional medicine, and distance to the health facility. South Africa has made progress towards their 90-90-90 goals, yet a substantial proportion of the population do not test regularly; only 33.9% of adults in rural Mpumalanga (our study site) underwent HIV testing in the past year.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection remains a significant public health problem in the United States (US). It is estimated that almost 15% of the 1.17 million people living with HIV (PLWH) in the US are unaware of their HIV status. And despite the existence of highly effective HIV treatment (antiretroviral therapy, ART), only 65% of people living with diagnosed HIV have achieved viral suppression. Similarly, among HIV-negative people eligible for PrEP, only 18% have used PrEP.

Excerpt from the article Fogarty awards $3.3M in COVID-19 supplements to support research, training published in Global Health Matters by the Fogarty International Center: 

Principal Investigator(s):  Bonnie Miller, M.D. Troy Moon, M.D. M.P.H. Marie Martin, M.Ed., Ph.D.

Status epilepticus (SE) is the most common serious neurological emergency among children worldwide. In the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) of sub-Saharan Africa, the burden of childhood SE-associated mortality and morbidity appears to be especially high. However, the phenotypes of childhood SE, clinical predictors of SE-associated mortality and of SE-associated neurodevelopmental morbidity, and genomic predictors of SE, SE-associated mortality and neurodevelopmental morbidity have not been well-characterized in this region.

Principal Investigator(s):  Carolyn Audet, Ph.D.

About V-RAMP  

Principal Investigator(s):  Muktar Aliyu, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H. Edwin Trevathan, M.D., M.P.H.

The UNZA-Vanderbilt Training Partnership for HIV-Nutrition-Metabolic Research (UVP-1) and the UNZA-Vanderbilt Partnership for HIV-NCD Research (UVP-2) continue a longstanding training collaboration between the University of Zambia School of Medicine/University Teaching Hospital (UNZA/UTH), Vanderbilt University (VU) and the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH).

Principal Investigator(s):  Muktar Aliyu, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H. William Wester, M.D., M.P.H.

Principal Investigator(s):  Kate Clouse, Ph.D., M.P.H.

The Improving Perioperative Anesthesia Care and Training in Africa (ImPACT Africa) program addresses the critical need for safe surgery by training local anesthesia providers and building educational capacity of local institutions. Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) faculty members, Marie Martin and Elizabeth Rose, along with other VIGH staff and student collaborators, have partnered with ImPACT Africa leaders to provide education consulting and develop new courses.

Project Details: NIH Reporter Abstract Text

The scale-up of global antiretroviral therapy (ART) represents an unparalleled global health success story, leading to impressive overall reductions in HIV-related morbidity and mortality. However, adolescents and young adults (AYA), especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa, have largely been left out of this story. While AIDS-related deaths declined by 30% for adults from 2005-2012, they increased by 50% among AYA over the same period, making AIDS the leading cause of death among African youth. AYA living with HIV perform poorly across the entire care continuum.

The Vanderbilt-Nigeria Building Research Capacity in HIV/Non-communicable Diseases (V-BRCH) Program builds capacity of Nigerian investigators to successfully initiate and implement high-quality clinical trials in HIV-associated non-communicable diseases.

Principal Investigator(s): William Wester, M.D., M.P.H.