Dr. Denton leads a research team in the Denton Laboratory, with a primary focus is on developing small-molecule probes for members of the inward rectifier family of potassium (Kir) channels, which play key physiological roles in cardiac, neuronal, endocrine and epithelial cell function. An emerging body of genetic evidence suggests that certain members of the Kir channel family represent novel drug targets for hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, secretory diarrhea and pain. Over the last three years, the Denton Laboratory has worked closely with researchers in Vanderbilt's High-throughput Screening Center for GPCRs, Ion Channels and Transporters, and the Center for Accelerated Probe Development to deploy a National Institutes of Health-funded drug discovery campaign directed toward the founding member of the Kir channel family and putative diuretic target Kir1.1. This work is expected to provide critically-needed pharmacological tools with which to probe the structure, integrative physiology and therapeutic potential of clinically-important inward rectifying potassium channels.

Education
Ph.D., Dartmouth Medical School M.S, B.S., University of Central Arkansas

Topics: Biological Sciences, Biomedical Ethics, COVID, Education and Training (Capacity Building), Global Health Policy, Global Health Systems/Delivery, HIV/AIDS, Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Medical Education, Pathology, Public Health

Countries: Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia

Quentin Eichbaum was born and raised in Namibia and South Africa. He initially studied law at the University of Cape Town and then completed his MD, MPH, PhD/postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his residency and fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. He is  currently Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Professor of Medical Education and Administration at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.  He serves on numerous national and international clinical, global health, education, and health humanities committees and boards.  He chairs the AABB Global Transfusion Forum (GTF),  the AABB Global Standards Committee, and the International Affairs Committee at ASFA. He is on the Board of Directors of CUGH and has chaired its Education Committee, Global Workforce Committee, and Global Health Humanities working group.  He co-founded and serves on the Executive Committee of CONSAMS (Consortium  of New Sub-Saharan Africa Medical Schools). He serves on the Education Committee of the FAIMER/ECFMG Board of Trustees.  He is Medical Co-Director of Transfusion Medicine at VUMC, Director of the VUMC Transfusion Medicine Fellowship Program, Director of the Vanderbilt Pathology Program in Global Health, and Medical Director of the VA Tennessee Valley Health Care System Blood Bank. 

Education

M.D., M.P.H., Harvard School of Public Health
Ph.D., University of Cape Town, South Africa
MMHC, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University
M.F.A., Vermont College

Topics: Biological Sciences, Cardiology, Heart Disease and Stroke, Clinical Trials, Education and Training (Capacity Building), Heart Disease and Stroke, HIV/AIDS, Immunology, Nephrology, Nutrition

Countries: Uganda, Zambia

Publications Link

Topics: Community Health, Maternal and Child Health, Neglected Tropical Diseases, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Public Health

Countries: Guyana, Kenya

Dr. Lindsey Zamora has had an interest in global health and cultural studies since prior to entering the field of medicine.  She completed her undergraduate degree in Anthropology at the University of Florida and during this time studied abroad in Tanzania and Brazil.  She then completed medical school at the University of Florida and went on to residency training at the University of Florida and Baylor College of Medicine.  During medical school, she led an ongoing mission trip to the Dominican Republic providing care for rural areas of the country. In residency she had the opportunity to rotate in Zambia working with midwives leading safe delivery training workshops.  

After residency, Dr. Zamora completed a fellowship in Global Women’s Health through University Hospitals/Case Medical Center in partnership with University of Guyana and Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. During this time she helped establish the first ObGyn training program in the country. The program was developed with the goals of training local specialists and leaders in ObGyn in the country of Guyana to reduce the country’s maternal mortality rate.  Dr. Zamora lived in Guyana for two years during her fellowship and helped to graduate the country’s first specialists in ObGyn. After her fellowship’s completion, she then continued her work from the United States as an Assistant Residency Program Director for the program.  During this time, Dr. Zamora earned her Master of Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

Since joining faculty at Vanderbilt, Dr. Zamora has become a member of the ObGyn’s Section for Global Women’s Health and is the lead for their residency’s distinction pathway in Global and Community Health.  She also serves as a faculty liaison between the ObGyn department and Siloam Health, Nashville’s community health center serving the local refugee population.  Dr. Zamora’s specific global health interests are maternal mortality reduction, global health education, capacity building in low and middle income countries, and care for immigrant and refugee populations. 

Education

M.D., University of Florida
M.P.H., London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Dr. Joseline (Josie) Haizel-Cobbina is the Program Manager at the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health. She works with Dr Michael C. Dewan and the Vanderbilt Global Neurosurgery Program (VGNP). Prior to joining VIGH, she worked as an International Health Fellow with Minnesota Department of Health, where she worked on CDC’s Malaria Prevention Project to reduce the incidence of imported malaria cases among the immigrant and refugee population in Minnesota.

Originally from Ghana, Josie received her a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology and her medical degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2015 and worked as a medical officer in low-resource settings for 3 years before moving to the United States. She obtained her MPH degree in Public Health Administration and Policy with a minor in Health Equity at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in 2020. Josie’s clinical and public health interests are in neurosurgery and eliminating health disparities which well aligns with her work as the Program Manager for the VGNP.

Topics: Clinical Trials, Community Health, COVID, Global Health Policy, Global Health Systems/Delivery, Health Policy, HIV/AIDS, Infectious Diseases, Public Health, Tuberculosis (TB)

Countries: Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, United States

Publications Link

Prof Churchyard (MBBCh), MMED (Int Med), FCP (SA), FRCP (Edin), PhD) is a specialist physician, internationally renowned for his contributions in tuberculosis (TB) research. Prof Churchyard is the founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of the Aurum Institute, an independent, not for profit, proudly South African, public benefit organization that focuses on TB and HIV technical assistance, service delivery, and research. Prof Churchyard is an Honorary Professor at the University of Witwatersrand, University of Cape Town and the Department of Medicine in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Prof Churchyard is the Chair of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Transformative Science Group for TB, Chair of the NIH/DIADS funded Cross-network TB vaccine and Immunology Working Group, and a member of the ACTG Scientific Advisory Steering Committee (SASC). He has extensive clinical trials experience and has conducted numerous TB treatment, TB vaccine, TB preventive therapy, TB diagnostics and Host Directed Therapy for TB trials. Prof Churchyard's investigator-initiated studies has involved large, multisite and often complex studies in South Africa and internationally. Prof Churchyard has published widely in the fields of TB and HIV.

The Aurum Institute
Parktown, South Africa