The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH), in collaboration with Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), organized the first workshop on biomedical informatics at UEM in September for the Vanderbilt-Mozambique Biomedical Informatics (VM-BMI) Training and Research Program. The VM-BMI program is designed to sustainably equip Mozambican scientists with skills to advance progress towards HIV epidemic control through high-quality BMI-based research relevant to the country. The workshop ran from September 16-18, 2024 and hosted 25 participants, including potential future faculty fellows, master’s students, and mentors.
The VM-BMI workshop focused on introducing participants to the foundational principles of biomedical informatics (BMI), the HIV and BMI landscapes in Mozambique, and opportunities for funding for HIV-related BMI research in Mozambique. Workshop speakers included VM-BMI program leaders Professors Baltazar Chilundo and Mohsin Sidat from the UEM Faculty of Medicine, Professor Emilio Mosse from the UEM Faculty of Sciences, and Professors Martin Were and Bill Wester from VUMC. Professor Jahit Sacarlal, Dean of the UEM Faculty of Medicine, and Professor Daud Jamal, Dean of the UEM Faculty of Sciences, also participated in the workshop and expressed their support for the VM-BMI program. Speakers also introduced participants to the VM-BMI program and future training opportunities.
The workshop also featured three newly selected VM-BMI faculty fellows: Drs. Nilza Collinson, Abdul Dada, and Osvaldo Loquiha. These scholars are completing year-long fellowships that include development and implementation of HIV-related BMI research projects. During interactive workshop sessions, the faculty fellows presented their research proposals and received feedback from other faculty in medicine, statistics, and informatics that helped them refine their proposals and define next steps.
This work is supported by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number D43TW012750.