Northwestern University AIDS International Training and Research Program (NU AITRP)
NEWS
Quick Facts
Funder:
Fogarty International Center (FIC) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Countries:
Mali, Nigeria, United States
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Rob Murphy
Academic Director:
Dr. Babafemi Taiwo
Program Administrator:
Baiba Berzins
Funded by the Fogarty International Center (FIC) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in June 2008, NU AITRP implements interdisciplinary training to improve the overall capacity of Nigerian and Malian collaborators to conduct HIV/AIDS clinical and laboratory research with emphasis on the national priority areas. By providing comprehensive training in epidemiological concepts and methods related to AIDS research, NU AITRP aims to increase the foreign scientists’ capacity to conduct epidemiological studies, clinical trials and prevention research. Northwestern has developed partnerships with three institutions:
- University College Hospital (UCH) at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria
- Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) at the University of Jos in Nigeria
- Center for HIV and TB Training and Research (SEREFO) at the University of Bamako in Mali
Trainees participate as part of a degree-directed training program, a mentored research training experience, or a research training course in the host-country. The program also provides support for trainees to conduct collaborative research with faculty at Northwestern University upon their return to Nigeria and Mali.
The NU AITRP creates value by developing an AIDS research infrastructure that encourages collaboration. It will capture value by linking new investigators to mentors and facilitating access to research resources. In addition, the NU AITRP helps train researchers to plan and implement epidemiologic and interventional programs relevant to populations in Nigeria and Mali by building the research capacity of teams of Nigerian and Malian scientists, clinicians, nurses, data managers, laboratory technicians, and allied health care workers. This stimulates independent local HIV research programs and helps prepare for future antiretroviral clinical trials, and other treatment and preventive strategies.
Strategy
- Master’s degree programs - Bring Malian and Nigerian trainees to Northwestern University for a one-year Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) or Master of Science in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MSEB) degree program.
- Medium-term training - Provide training to Malian and Nigerian researchers and investigators in a variety of HIV-related areas, such as pharmacology, clinical research methodology, and laboratory
techniques. These trainings are from one to six months and are held at Northwestern University and in Mali. - Short-term, host-country based training - Conduct workshops and intensive trainings in Nigeria and Mali around a variety of topics, such as bioethics, epidemiology, and biostatistics.
Master's Degree Program
The Master’s degree program component of AITRP is intended to provide high-quality, long-term and intensive training to Malian and Nigerian researchers. The Master’s program is a one-year (4 quarters) program for which medical professionals from partnering institutions are encouraged to apply. Northwestern funds one to two researchers per year for a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) or Master of Science in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MSEB) degree program. During their studies, trainees are assigned a mentor from the NU faculty who provides scientific insight into their research project. Upon completion of their M.S. degree, the trainees return to their country to continue their research and transfer knowledge to their counterparts. Northwestern University follows up with returnees to provide support and guidance in their further endeavors. Thus far, NU AITRP has sponsored the following trainees for the M.S. program:
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Sesan Oluwasola, M.B.B.S., is an obstetrician/gynecologist from the University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria. He is currently a Fogarty Fellow at the Center for Global Health and is enrolled in the Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) program. His research interests are in the areas of HIV and cervical cancer, HIV and pre-eclampsia, PMTCT and HIV/TB co-infection in pregnancy as well as on medical education. His MSCI thesis is entitled “Changes in pregnancy rates, contraceptive use and predictors of conception, abortion and miscarriages in US women with HIV infection over 20 years.” Dr. Oluwasola will graduate with his MSCI from Northwestern in the summer of 2013. |
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Babatunde Ogunbosi, M.B.B.S. is a Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Respiratory physician at the University College Hospital, Ibadan and works with the APIN-Plus Pediatric HIV program, which is supported by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). He is currently a Fogarty Fellow at the Center for Global Health on the Masters in Clinical Investigation course. His research interests are in the areas of Pediatric HIV epidemiology, PMTCT, HIV/TB co-infection and pneumonias. Dr. Ogunbosi will graduate with his MSCI from Northwestern in the summer of 2012. |
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Maxwell Akanbi, M.B.B.S. is a respiratory physician with the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) in Jos, Nigeria. Dr. Akanbi serves as the coordinator of the Tuberculosis program at the APIN program at JUTH. He has completed a Master in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) degree program at Northwestern University in August 2011. Dr. Akanbi's MSCI research thesis is "Tuberculosis risk among individuals with HIV infection after one year of HAART: Influence of CD4 cell count and HIV RNA level." His areas of research interest include TB/HIV co-infection, medical education and translational medicine. |
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Adamu Onu, M.B.B.S. is a family physician from Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) in Jos, Nigeria where he works in the Adult ARV and Tuberculosis Clinics of the PEPFAR-supported APIN Plus program. He earned a Master of Science in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MSEB) - Investigator Track at Northwestern University in 2011. Dr. Onu's MSEB thesis was "A meta-analysis of the starting time of antiretroviral therapy in HIV co-infected patients." His research interests are HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. |
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Adedotun Adetunji, M.B.B.S. is a family physician from University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan in Nigeria where he is the Clinical Coordinator for the APIN Plus program, which is a PEPFAR-supported program. Dr. Adetunji received a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) at Northwestern University in 2010. His MSCI project focus was “Second-line antiretroviral treatment virologic outcomes in Ibadan, Nigeria.” Dr. Adetunji’s interest and research focuses on HIV/AIDS and predictors of outcomes of second-line anti-retroviral therapy. |
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Brehima Traore, M.D. is a Research Assistant in the Center for HIV and TB Training and Research (SEREFO) in Bamako, Mali. He began a 2-year Master of Science in Clinical Microbiology program in January 2010 at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Most course work will be completed at UW and the Marshfield Clinic, but clinical laboratory training will be completed at Northwestern. Dr. Traore's research involved the "Characterization of phenotypic virulence traits of Blastomyces dermatitidis and examination of associations with genetic grou." The training will enable him to establish a clinical microbiology laboratory in Mali. |
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Jonah Musa, M.B.B.S., an obstetrician/gynecologist from Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) in Jos, Nigeria, completed the one-year Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) degree program at Northwestern University in 2009. Dr. Musa's MSCI research project was a case-control study of women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) cervical cytology and reflex high-risk HPV DNA testing at the NU Women's Clinic. The findings of his research have been published in the Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Dr. Musa returned to JUTH where he is conducting an advanced in-country research project titled, "Role of high-risk HPV DNA testing in detection of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions among HIV-positive women with normal cytology". |
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Samuel Odeh, Ph.D., is a Reader in Physiology at Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) in Jos, Nigeria. Dr. Odeh has been in the 3-semester Masters of Science in Bioethics degree program at the University of Ibadan and is conducting field work for his research project "Knowledge and practice of incentives for research in Jos, Nigeria." |
Medium-term training
Northwestern University provides opportunities to scholars from our partner institutions to undergo clinical or laboratory research training at Northwestern University or SEREFO in Mali. Thus far, NU AITRP has sponsored four such trainees:
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Oche Agbaji, M.B.B.S., Principal Investigator of the AIDS Prevention Initiative Nigeria (APIN/PEPFAR) program at Jos University Teaching Hospital in Jos, Nigeria participated in Faculty Enrichment training at Northwestern University in March 2009. His training included two short courses, "A Practical Introduction to Clinical Research Coordination" and "Writing in the Medical Sciences." Dr. Agbaji is the site investigator for a Fogarty-funded supplemental grant (HIV/AIDS Implementation Science in PEPFAR settings). He is conducting a study of the utility of transiet elastography (FibroScan) to determine the extent of liver disease among HIV and HIV-Hepatitis B infected patients in Jos. |
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S. Idowu Cadmus D.V.M, Ph.D from the University of Ibadan (UCH) in Ibadan, Nigeria completed a 6-month training program (October 2008 - May 2009) at the NIH-supported Center for HIV and TB Training and Research (SEREFO) in Bamako, Mali. His training at the BSL3 TB laboratory was in the area of TB bacteriology (culture, microscopy, and drug susceptibility) and molecular diagnostics, including the microscopic observation drug susceptibility assay (MODS) and the nitrate reductase assay (NRA). Dr. Cadmus returned to Nigeria and is conducting his advanced in-country research project titled, “A prevalence study of MDR-TB in Ibadan, Nigeria: Exploring two rapid diagnostic assays”. The acquired techniques are being used to determine the drug susceptibility profile of patients with TB resistance and to characterize the genotype and phenotype of MDR-TB strains circulating in Nigeria. |
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Yetunde Fadairo is a Medical Laboratory Scientist from Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) in Jos, Nigeria. She completed a 6-month training program (June to December 2009) at the Center for HIV and TB Training and Research (SEREFO) in Bamako, Mali. Ms. Fadairo was trained in mycobacterial culture and microscopy techniques that will enable her to be a resource for TB/HIV laboratory and clinical research studies at JUTH. |
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Fatai Fehintola, M.B.B.S., M.Sc., a clinical pharmacologist at the University of Ibadan in Ibadan, Nigeria, completed sandwich pharmacology research training at Northwestern University that included an HIV/AIDS Adherence-Pharmacology Clinic and Laboratory Training Module at the University of Buffalo-School of Pharmacy (March to May 2009). The training program provided Dr. Fehintola with experience in an analytical laboratory that conducts drug assays for antiretrovirals and drug interaction studies. Dr. Fehintola conducted an advanced in-country research project titled, “Evaluation of Concomitant Administration of Antimalarial Drugs on the Pharmacokinetics of Nevirapine in the Adult Nigerian” at UCH. He was invited to speak at a Satellite Symposium on HIV Pharmacology Research Capacity Building during the June 2010 AIDS IAS Conference in Vienna sponsored by NU and the Buffalo AITRP projects. |
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Almoustapha Maiga, PharmD, PhD, is a virologist in the laboratories of SEREFO in Mali and Hospital Pitie-Salpetriere in Paris. The NU AITRP provided sandwich training (June 2009 and March 2010) in HIV genotypic resistance testing at Northwestern’s HIV Virology Laboratory for Dr. Maiga’s research study titled, “Etravirine Phenotypic and Genotypic Susceptibility in HIV-1 Subtype Non-B After Failure of the First Generation NNRTI in Bamako, Mali”. |
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Mariam Sylla, MD, a Consultant Pediatrician at the University of Bamako in Mali, participated in a Faculty Enrichment program at NU's Children's Memorial Hospital in October 2010. She developed a clinical research protocol to study "Phenotypic and genotypic resistance in HIV-1 non-subtype B in children failing first-line antiretroviral therapy" and is currently enrolling children in the study in Bamako. |
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Reginald Obiako, M.B.B.S, M.Sc., FWACP, is the antiretroviral toxicity and switch officer and pharmacovigilance coordinator for the PEPFAR program at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Shika Zaria, Nigeria. He participated in the NU-AITRP from September to December 2010, during which period he also completed a six-week training program on pharmacology and standard operating procedures for antiretroviral assays at the University at Buffalo's AITRP. Dr. Obiako is interested in studying seizure disorders in HIV-infected patients. |
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Placid O. Ugoagwu Placid O. Ugoagwu is the Data Manager at the APIN/PEPFAR site at the Jos University Teaching Hospital in Jos, Nigeria. He completed the on-line Clinical Research Methods certificate course through the University of Illinois School of Public Health in May 2011. The 5-course program provides training in data collection and management and clinical research methodology for members of clinical research teams. |
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Ifeyinwa R Onwuatuelo, B.D.S., MPH, is the Care & Support Officer with the AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN), in Abuja, Nigeria. She completed a three-month NU-AITRP training program from September to December 2010)at Northwestern University. Dr. Onwuatuelo was trained in Intermediate Epidemiology, Data Management and Programming. She also participated in the two-week Introductory Applied Biostatistics Course organized by through the NU-AITRP in March 2010 in Nigeria. The knowledge and skills she acquired through NU-AITRP will enable her to carry out a study on survival analysis for HIV patients on highly active antiretroviral drugs (HAART) enrolled in APIN’s HIV program and to evaluate the impact of current care and treatment strategies on patient management. |
Short-term, host-country based training
Northwestern University has access to world-class faculty through the Feinberg School of Medicine. NU AITRP leverages this cadre of professionals to conduct short, intensive workshops and courses based on the needs of researchers at the partner institutions. Recent activities include the following:
- Immersion Biostatistics Course: Introductory Applied Biostatistics
Dr. Demetrios N. Kyriacou held an immersion biostatistics course in Ibadan, Nigeria during the first two weeks of March 2010. - 2nd Annual NU AITRP Research Workshop (Abuja, Nigeria)
In conjunction with the 5th National Conference on HIV/AIDS. The NU AITRP sponsored a workshop on May 6, 2010 for NU AITRP trainees and collaborators. - 3rd Annual NU AITRP Research Workshop
Took place in Bamako, Mali on January 11, 2011 in conjunction with the "Les Recontres Scientifiques: Afrique/France/Chicago" symposium co-sponsored with SEREFO and several French HIV organizations conducting research in Mali. - HIV Clinical Pharmacology Research Capacity Building Symposia
Conducted at the International AIDS Conferences in Vienna (2010) and Rome (2011) were co-sponsored by the NU and University of Buffalo AITRPs.
This page last updated Apr 11, 2013