• Science/Public Health

The Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowships in Public Health are offered through a partnership between the Fulbright Program and the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. These awards were established to promote the expansion of research in public health and clinical research in resource-limited settings.

Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowships carry the same benefits as the traditional Fulbright Study/Research grants to the host country. The Fogarty International Center, NIH, will provide support to the research training site and may provide orientation for the fellows at the NIH.

For more details on Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowships and application instructions, please review the ‘Type of Awards’ page: https://us.fulbrightonline.org/applicants/types-of-awards/fulbright-fogarty-fellowships-in-public-health

Grants will begin between August and March, subject to the approval of the U.S. Embassy in Kampala.

Grantees will be required to participate in a Virtual Pre-Departure Orientation (VPDO) in June/July 2024 as a condition of their grants.

In addition, grantees will be required to participate in a Pre-Departure Orientation with NIH in July.

Pre-doctoral trainees:

Must be enrolled in an accredited doctoral-level program (MD, PhD, DDS, or comparable degree from an accredited institution) in public health, government, business, design, engineering, education, medicine, nutrition, law, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and nursing. Eligible doctoral degrees include, but are not limited to: DMD, DC, DO, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, DPT, PharmD, ND, DSW, PsyD, JD and Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing.

Health-professional students who wish to interrupt their studies for a year or more to engage in full-time research training before completing their formal training programs are also eligible.

By the start of the program year (July 2024), fellows must be an MD (and other professional degrees) student who has completed their 3^rd year or a Ph.D. candidate who has completed their Master’s level requirements (i.e., post-qualifying exam).

• Doctoral

Applicants must select "Fulbright-Fogarty" in the Award Type field of the application.

All Fulbright-Fogarty applicants should select “Public Health” as the Field of Study in the Fulbright application.

Affiliation: Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI)

U.S. Partner: GloCal Health Fellowship Consortium (GloCal) Contact: Craig Cohen, Craig.Cohen@ucsf.edu

The Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) is a Ugandan non-government organization owned by Makerere University with the mission: “To strengthen health systems in Africa through research and capacity building”. IDI provides comprehensive services for over 250,000 people with HIV and other infectious diseases in Uganda. It is unique in resource-limited settings as a one-stop site for mentees providing access to patients, samples, CAP certified laboratory, translational laboratory, statistic support, a variety training and short courses.

The research program hosts more than 100 research projects. The program has several collaborations with institutions based in the US and Europe; IDI collaborates with UCSF on a U54 project on Kaposi Sarcoma (PI: Martin J). Key areas of research are HIV and HIV related co-infection and cancers (clinical and lab based). Fellows can leverage existing programs, particularly the HIV clinic located at the Mulago site which hosts specialized services and grants on sexual and reproductive health, mental health, non-communicable diseases, treatment failure, Kaposi sarcoma diagnostic, TB co-infections and two ongoing cohorts (along-term outcomes cohort and a geriatric cohort).

While working within their proposed projects, all scholars and research fellows at IDI are offered training through orientation, journal clubs, research fellows peer support club, a short course on scientific writing, monthly soft skills training (e.g. how to formulate a research questions, how to present, PowerPoint skills etc.), and a weekly research forum.

The research capacity building unit within the research department provides infrastructural support, management of finances, administrative and regulatory support and oversight, internal monitoring, and the IDI scholars community for peer support and exchange.

For trainees with lab-based projects, the research translational lab has a microbiology section (BACTEC machine, incubators, biosafety cabinets, fluorescent microscopes (iLED Primostar Zeiss & Zeiss mercury vapor lamp), a molecular section (RT-PCR machine (AB 7500), convectional PCR, bio-fire machines, Gene Xpert) , an immunology section (FACS Canto II flow cytometer, MiniMACs cell separator, Luminex MAGPIX, ELISA washer and plate reader), and a PK section (2 HPLC machines and a mass spectrophotometer). 

Affiliation: Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC) 

U.S. Partner: GloCal Health Fellowship Consortium (GloCal) Contact: Craig Cohen, Craig.Cohen@ucsf.edu

The Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC) is a not-for-profit organization, established in 2008 by Ugandan health scientists from Makerere University and the Ministry of Health (MoH) to conduct research in infectious diseases. IDRC has active memoranda of understanding with Makerere University, MoH and UCSF to conduct research in infectious diseases, including malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis. The mission of IDRC is to conduct high-quality research in infectious and other diseases of public health importance through collaboration and partnerships. Specific objectives including: I) To build capacity through training, technology advancement and improvement of local health service infrastructure; II) To conduct research in infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases of public importance; III) To disseminate results of research and promote an evidence-based approach to policy making by linking researchers and policy makers; IV) To support the efforts of the Uganda Ministry of Health, Mulago Hospital and other health institutions in Uganda in prevention, care and treatment of infectious diseases.

The collaboration includes over thirty faculty at MU and UCSF, with a budget of $10 million and over 50 publications annually. Some of the important projects that could be leveraged for training future GloCal fellows include:

• A Multisectoral Strategy to Address Persistent Drivers of the HIV Epidemic in East Africa.
• Program for Resistance, Immunology, Surveillance, and Modeling of Malaria in Uganda.
• Optimal chemo-preventive regimens to prevent malaria and improve birth outcomes in Uganda.
• Integrated HIV/HTN, (Leveraging the HIV platform for hypertension control in Uganda).
• Programs studying immune responses to malaria infection, antimalarial drug resistance and treatment efficacy, antiretroviral therapy initiation, HIV-associated pneumonia, and TB.

FIC, GloCal, K43 and G11 funded programs have trained and built capacity of over 80 Ugandan junior scientists and administrators. IDRC has facilities and resources with over 20 administrators to support trainees. The facilities include office space at its headquarters and research sites in Tororo, Mbale and Mbarara; a reference malaria laboratory; a research infrastructure for clinical, translational, and molecular research; and modern data management centers in Kampala and Tororo.

Affiliation: Uganda TB Implementation Research Consortium (U-TIRC)

U.S. Partner: GloCal Health Fellowship Consortium (GloCal) Contact: Craig Cohen, Craig.Cohen@ucsf.edu

Established in 2008, the Uganda TB Implementation Research Consortium (U-TIRC) is a collaboration of research scientists at Makerere University led by Dr. Achilles Katamba, public health officials at the Uganda Ministry of Health and the Uganda National TB and Leprosy Programme in Uganda, and research scientists at UCSF and other institutions. U-TIRC focuses on improving TB diagnosis and care by undertaking high-quality clinical, epidemiological and implementation science research that seeks to identify barriers to TB prevention and care, develop strategies to address the barriers, and evaluate the uptake and impact of these strategies.

U-TIRC facilitates higher-level training of Ugandans through the NIH D43 Pulmonary Complications of AIDS Research Training (PART) program, which supports a number of trainees currently pursuing PhD or Masters degrees. PART trainees are paired with a mentor to work on a project focused on pulmonary complications of HIV/AIDS and are provided funding and mentorship support for up to 3 years. In addition, trainees have an opportunity to attend modular courses on mixed methods and implementation science (ImS). Both courses are organized in a series of four workshops spread over the course of one-year with work in-progress sessions in between.  The mixed methods course covers mixed methods design, data collection and analysis and manuscript writing. The ImS course covers introduction to ImS, individual/ organizational behavior change strategies; stakeholder engagement, implementation frameworks; study design and evaluation; and manuscript writing. U-TIRC currently supports 20 PART trainees and has over 25 alumni from the program.

In 2019, U-TIRC shifted its administrative base from Makerere University to WALIMU, a local non-government organization. Walimu/U-TIRC provides in-country logistical, personnel/human resources, grants management, accounting, procurement, customs clearance, computing/ information technology, secretarial and ancillary support. Walimu/U-TIRC maintains dedicated office space for investigators with access to telephone service, desktop computer, scanner, printer, and locked file cabinets. Conference call facilities to support interactions with US-based investigators and staff are available using a voice-over-internet protocol connection provided by Zoom. Current research staff include 10 project coordinators, 45 research assistants and 7 administrative staff. Current projects have developed research infrastructure at >40 health centers in 30 districts of the country.

Affiliation: Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI)

U.S. Partner: UJMT Launching Future Leaders in Global Health (LAUNCH)

Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) is a Ugandan not-for-profit organization owned by Makerere University. Its mission is “to strengthen health systems in Africa, with a strong emphasis on infectious diseases, through Research and Capacity building.” IDI supports the Ministry of Health through providing both direct prevention, care and treatment services as well as technical assistance and health systems strengthening support in over 70 districts of Uganda. IDI has established long term international research collaborations with major academic centres worldwide (e.g., JHU, Harvard Medical School, UCSF, and many others) which provide a widening global dimension to research at IDI. IDI also participates in international networks such as such as the International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS: East Africa network (IeDEA); the East African Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR), a European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)-supported initiative; and Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence in East Africa (THRiVE), a Welcome Trust funded initiative (under the Makerere University umbrella).

Fellows would be expected to work with U.S. and Uganda based mentor groups to develop an independent research project that could be integrated into one of the following projects or in a new area of interest:

• ID epidemiology particularly STIs, tuberculosis, acute febrile illness
• Emerging infections and surveillance
• HIV, opportunistic infections, aging, and malignancies
• Programmatic implementation science – research to practice and policy

Site Contacts:

Barbara Castelnuovo – bcastelnuovo@idi.co.ug

US Mentor, Johns Hopkins University, Yuka Manabe, MD, FIDSA, FRCP – ymanabe@jhmi.edu

Makerere University

U.S. Partner: UJMT Launching Future Leaders in Global Health (LAUNCH)

The Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Africa, with over 40,000 students. It is the leading institution for medical instruction and research in the East, Central and Southern Africa (excluding South Africa). MakCHS has a strong track record of successful collaborative research with local, American and European universities and institutions and has participated in many of the early trials of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria interventions in the region.

Fellows would be expected to work with U.S. and Uganda based mentor groups to develop an independent research project that could be integrated into one of the following projects or in a new area of interest:

• Cancer
• Child health
• Communicable diseases (both non-HIV and HIV/AIDS)
• Noncommunicable diseases
• Neurologic disorders
• Trauma and injury
• Women’s health
• Pulmonary health

Site Contacts:

Bruce Kirenga – brucekirenga@yahoo.co.uk

Nelson Sewankambo – sewankam@infocom.co.ug

MU-JHU Care

U.S. Partner: UJMT Launching Future Leaders in Global Health (LAUNCH)

MU-JHU CARE Ltd (also known as ‘Makerere U.-Johns Hopkins U. Research Collaboration’) was first established in 1988 as a collaboration between investigators in the Departments of Obstetrics/ Gynaecology and Paediatrics at Makerere Univeristy School of Medicine and U.S. HIV Investigators. The MU-JHU Research Collaboration became incorporated as a not- for- profit local Uganda entity in 2006. For over 30 years, MU-JHU has been a leading research institution in Uganda with a sustained focus on HIV and women/maternal and pediatric health.

Fellows would be expected to work with U.S. and Uganda based mentor groups to develop an independent research project that could be integrated into one of the following projects or in a new area of interest:

• HIV/AIDS
• Prevention of maternal to child transmission of HIV

Site Contacts:

Philippa Musoke – pmusoke@mujhu.org

US Mentor, Johns Hopkins University, William Checkley, MD, PhD – wcheck1@jhmi.edu

Affiliations: Makerere University Department of Psychology

Summary of the site/ongoing research projects/topics of interest:

The Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MaKCHS) is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Africa.

Fellows would be expected to work with U.S. and Ugandan mentors to develop an independent research project that could be integrated into one of the following projects or in a new area of interest:

• Family and child health, maternal and reproductive health
• Gender-based violence
• Communicable and non-communicable disease epidemiology
• Environmental health, community engagement
• HIV prevention, care, and treatment

Examples of ongoing projects:

• Diagnosing Alzheimer's disease as a platform for improving training in geriatrics in Uganda, MaK RIF 2020-2023
• The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic And Its Response On The Mental Health Of People With Pre-Existing Mental Conditions In Uganda
• Picture of ageing in Uganda 
• Effectiveness and Implementation of an Early Childhood School-Based Mental Health Intervention in Low-Resource Communities, NIMH, 2020-2024 Huang (NYU), Nakigudde, (MUK)
• Predicting and Preventing Tuberculosis Treatment Failure in an Emerging Co-Epidemic of HIV, Diabetes, and Tuberculosis. Patterson Trust, 2019-2021, Armstrong-Hough (NYU)
• Mental health and Cognition in HIV infection in Rakai Uganda. NIMH, 2019-2024 (Nakasujja, Co-I) Nakasujja (MUK)
• Malarial Impact on Neurobehavioral Development. NINDS, 2019-2024 Nakasujja, Bangirana (MUK)

U.S. Partner:  Addressing the Research Capacity Gap in Global Child, Adolescent, and Family Health Disparities Utilizing Implementation and Data Science among Vulnerable Populations in Resource-Limited Settings (ACHIEVE), Washington University in St. Louis https://sites.wustl.edu/achieve/

Site Contact:

Laura Peer, lpeer@wustl.edu   
Chelsea Hand-Sheridan, c.hand-sheridan@wustl.edu

Affiliations: MildMay Uganda 

Summary of the site/ongoing research projects/topics of interest:

MildMay Uganda is a national Non-Government Organization established in Uganda in 1998 as a Centre of Excellence for provision of comprehensive HIV&AIDS prevention, care, treatment, and training services. Overtime, Mildmay Uganda has evolved and diversified its services specializing in delivery of comprehensive healthcare including Treatment Services; Health Systems Strengthening; Other Complementary Social Services; Health Training and Education; and Research.

Mildmay Research Centre Uganda (MRCU) is a subsidiary of Mildmay Uganda (MUg). MUg is a national indigenous, faith-based organization registered under Uganda’s law with the national NGO Registration Board as a non-government organization (NGO) with affiliates in the UK and Kenya. SINCE 1998, MUg has been modelling quality and sustainable prevention, care and treatment of HIV and other health priorities, using a family-centered approach together with training, education and research in Uganda. MUg pioneered specialist paediatric HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa and is one of the two paediatric palliative care Beacon Centres in Africa. For over 21 years now, MUg has been, and is a key player in the HIV epidemic response in Uganda providing prevention, care, treatment and Health Systems Strengthening services across several districts of Uganda and at its Center of Excellence (CoE). MUg has demonstrable capacity to pinpoint and focus her intervention to the most vulnerable people and deploys low cost models that high impact yet replicable. MUg is one of the National NGOs (NNGOs) operating sub-national programs that contribute significantly to national health outcomes and is currently the PEPFAR comprehensive implementing partner for Central Uganda (the region with highest HIV prevalence of 7.2% compared to 5.8% national prevalence). Mildmay Uganda management systems, including her laboratory, are accredited for ISO 9001:2015 and 15189:2012 respectively.

Fellows would be expected to work with U.S. and Ugandan mentors to develop an independent research project that could be integrated into one of the following projects or in a new area of interest:

• Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)
• HIV Prevention, Care & treatment
• Key populations
• Infectious Diseases.
• Non-Communicable Diseases.
• Biomedical Research
• Dementia and Mental Health among others

Examples of ongoing projects:

• RIA2017MC-2009 (J. Mukonzo, PI) 06/01/2020 -06/30/2024 EDCTP: Safety and efficacy DTG and EFV400 for pregnant and breast-feeding women: a randomized non-inferiority clinical trial (PREGART).
• RAND Corporation with NIH funding: Studies focused on capacity building among health workers on how to handle gender-related issues to improve ART adherence through implementation research and behavioral studies to improve ART adherence.
• UVRI/IAVI funded by Glaxo SmithKline; Using implementation research to understand the impact and effectiveness of the Paediatric Breakthrough Partnership (PBP)
• GH002046-18033-Mubende (B. Mukasa, PI) 20/11/2017- 20/11/2023 CDC: Baseline, Midterm and End of Project Evaluation Protocol for Mildmay Mubende region:  Midterm Review of Accelerating HIV Epidemic Control in 8 Districts of Mubende Region.
• R01MH110350 (S. Linnemayr, PI) 09/13/2017-10/14/2022 NIH/NIMH-Behavioral Economics Incentives to Support HIV Treatment Adherence in Sub- Saharan Africa.
• R01HD074949(Ssewamala/Sensoy/Nabunya,PI) 09/01/2020- 07/31/2025: NIH/NICHD: Suubi+Adherence-R2: Examining the longitudinal HIV treatment adherence among youth living with HIV (YLHIV) transitioning into young adulthood.
• R01MH115830 (G. Wagner, PI) 08/15/2018-05/08/2023-NIH/NIMH: Depression Care to Improve Adherence to PMTCT Care Continuum & Pregnancy Outcomes.
• R34MH119924-01A1 (L. Bogart, PI) 04/01/2020-03/31/2023 NIH - Implementation of Community-Based PrEP provision for Uganda Fisher Folk.
• R01HD104555 (Huang/Linnemayr, PI) 05/2021 – 01/ 2026NIH/NIMH: Goals for Adherence with Low-cost Incentives (GOALS).
• R34MH122331 (S. Linnemayr, PI) 09/01/2020 -08/31/2023 NIH/NIMH: Incentives and ReMINDers to Improve Long-term Medication Adherence (INMIND).
• HS1273ES (Ndagije/Mukasa, PI) 10/02/2020 – 09/30/2022 Uganda National Drug Authority (NDA): Evaluating the Glycemic Effects of Dolutegravir (DTG) among Patients Receiving Dolutegravir Based Regimens at Mildmay Uganda ART sites.
• 1K01MH121663-01A1 (K. Sileo, PI) 08/01/2020 – 12/31/2023 NIH: A Gender Transformative Strategy with providers to Improve HIV Outcomes in Uganda.
• Improving Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) adherence (Adolescents).
• The WiseMama study was designed to provide evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of a wise pill device in helping HIV-positive pregnant and post-partum women (PPPW) to maintain high adherence to antiretroviral (ARV) medications.
• Behavioral studies on the Impact of COVID-19 on ART adherence.
• Sexual Reproductive Health: Studies for Delivery of Sexual and Reproductive Health services using community models among vulnerable population in Uganda including urban refugees.
• HIV prevention strategies: Mildmay research center has together with partners implemented research with funding from International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) to test and evaluate new interventions of testing for HIV at community level using the Self Testing approach (Oral quick).
• Non-Communicable Diseases: Past research on Computerized Cognitive Rehabilitation training for Ugandan older persons living with HIV revealed that this rehabilitation approach may be a useful non-pharmacologic intervention for mitigative neurocognitive decline and aging related disability for older African persons especially those living with HIV.

Possible Mentors

• Barbara Mukasa, MBChB, MPH
• Yvonne Karamagi, MBChB, MPH
• Ivan Mubangizi, MBChB, MMed
• Jane Nakaweesi, MBChB, MMed Paediatrics, MPH
• Jane Frank Nalubega, PhD
• Ivan Kasamba, PhD
• Peter Yiga, PhD

U.S. Partner:  Addressing the Research Capacity Gap in Global Child, Adolescent, and Family Health Disparities Utilizing Implementation and Data Science among Vulnerable Populations in Resource-Limited Settings (ACHIEVE), Washington University in St. Louis https://sites.wustl.edu/achieve/

Site Contact:

Laura Peer, lpeer@wustl.edu  
Chelsea Hand-Sheridan, c.hand-sheridan@wustl.edu

Affiliations: Uganda Cancer Institute

Background of the Uganda Cancer Institute

The Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) was established in 1967 as a result of a collaboration between Makerere University, the Ministry of Health and the US National Cancer Institute. It was established as a treatment center for the then recently discovered Burkitt Lymphoma, although it was subsequently expanded to treat other cancers with the Opening of the Solid Tumor Centre (STC) in 1969. The UCI is recognized as the site of the description of Burkitt Lymphoma by Dr. Denis Burkitt and also one of the initial sites for the first use of combination chemotherapy for cancer, which now forms the basis of all cancer chemotherapy.

The Institute is a comprehensive cancer center offering all types of cancer care including radiotherapy, surgery, chemotherapy and palliative and rehabilitative services. The Institute caters for patients of all ages. The Institute currently receives over 7400 incident cases of cancer every year of which about 700 are children (< 14 years of age). The commonest cancers are cervical cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer. Based on the Kampala Cancer Registry (KCR), Uganda has one of the highest cervical cancer incidence rates in the world with an age standardized rate of 47.5 per 100,000 which is three times higher than the global average estimate of 15.8 per 100,000. Prostate cancer is the commonest cancer in men with an annual incidence rate of 20.2% (2,288 cases). Childhood (pediatric) cancers comprise about 10% of the total annual incidence of cancers at the Uganda Cancer Institute.

The Institute has also been designated as the East Africa Centre of Excellence in Oncology and is in the process of establish four regional cancer centers in different parts of Uganda.

Summary of the site/ongoing research projects/topics of interest:

The Uganda Cancer Institute was started in the first place to provide room for research and clinical initiatives in cancer. The institute has over the past few years, built capacity to conduct high quality research including clinical trials, implementation science and community studies. Our research provides avenues for discovery but also additional treatment options for patients such as in clinical trials.

Fellows coming to the Uganda Cancer Institute would be expected to work with U.S. and Ugandan mentors to develop an independent research project that could be integrated into one of the following projects or in a new area of interest:

• Improving pediatric oncology supportive care in a resource-limited setting
• Cancer biology
• Implementation science research
• Oncology/Hematology
• Sociobehavioral and socio-economic cancer research
• Genomics
• Cancer epidemiology and registration
• Early detection and diagnosis

Examples of ongoing projects:

• Addressing the burden of untreated HIV in adult cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa: Feasibility and planning for a pragmatic clinical trial (Rachel Ignacio Bender (UW), Noleb Mugisha (UCI), Niyonzima (UCI)
• Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on cancer prevention and control service delivery in Uganda (Kirsten Beyer (UM), Nixon Niyonzima (UCI)
• Defining the molecular profile of breast cancer in Uganda and its clinical implications (Manon Menon (Fred Hutch), Jackson Orem (UCI))
• A Pilot Study of Nelfinavir for the Treatment of Kaposi Sarcoma: a Trial of the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) 098 (AMC, Jackson Orem (UCI))
• Assessing the Clinical Utility of an Automated Molecular Diagnostic Test (GeneXpert Breast Cancer STRATA4 Assay) in the Diagnosis of Women with Breast Cancer in Uganda (Manoj Menon (Fred Hutch), Niyonzima (UCI)

POTENTIAL MENTORS

• Jackson Orem, MBChB, MMED, PhD (Medical Oncologist/Health systems)
• Nixon Niyonzima, MBChB, MMED, MSc, PhD, MBA  (Cancer Biology/Public Health)
• Joyce Balagadde, MBChB, MMED (Paediatric Oncologist)
• Ddungu Henry, MBChB, MMED, PhD (Haematologist)
• Fred Okuku, MBChB, MMED (Medical Oncologist)
• Fadhil Geriga, MBChB, MMED (Paediatric Oncologist)
• Solomon Kibudde, MBChB, MMED (Radiation Oncologist)
• Martin Origa, MBChB, MMED (Gyn Oncologist)

U.S. Partner:  Addressing the Research Capacity Gap in Global Child, Adolescent, and Family Health Disparities Utilizing Implementation and Data Science among Vulnerable Populations in Resource-Limited Settings (ACHIEVE), Washington University in St. Louis https://sites.wustl.edu/achieve/

Site Contact:

Laura Peer, lpeer@wustl.edu  
Chelsea Hand-Sheridan, c.hand-sheridan@wustl.edu

Affiliation: Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation-Uganda (Baylor-Uganda)

Areas of focus:

• HIV
• TB
• Orphans and Vulnerable Children services  
• Clinical trials and implementation research 
• Global Health Security 
• Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Newborn Child and Adolescent health 

Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation-Uganda (Baylor-Uganda) is a not-for-profit organization established in 2006. The organization is a leading provider of integrated high quality and high impact HIV, TB, Maternal and Child Health services, health professional training, and research in Uganda. Baylor-Uganda has grown its portfolio from managing only 3 grants (< 1 million USD) in 2006 to over 34 grants worth about 40 million USD. Other program areas include Global Health security, nutrition, and social support to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). The research directorate conducts clinical trials (industry including vaccines), implementation research, and cohort studies. 

Baylor Uganda is headquartered at Mulago Hospital where it runs a Pediatric and Adolescent family-centered HIIV/AIDS/TB Clinic with close to 8500 clients. Under comprehensive HIV programs, Baylor-Uganda supports the Ministry of Health, 3 Regional Referral Hospitals, and 47 District Local Governments through a health system strengthening approach to include combination prevention strategies (PreP, VMMC), HIV testing services, MNCH, HIV care & treatment. In 2022, the organization’s programs supported over 420 health facilities reaching 217,000 clients on ART in the Kampala, Fort Portal, Hoima, and Mbale regions – as a result, we reached 961000 persons with HIV testing services, 406000 pregnant women with PMTCT services, 25000 OVC, 17000 TB patients and 38500 KPs.

The Baylor Uganda call center (National Pediatric, and Adolescent HIV/AIDS/TB Call center [NAPAC]) provides consultative technical support services to health workers across the country and the communities in pediatrics and adolescent HIV/AIDS/TB management and HIV self-testing. The call center also provides counseling services support to study participants. 

The Global Health Security (GHS) program works collaboratively with the Ministry of Health to promote its mandate in policy formulation and oversight role for combating epidemics in Uganda. The program has been very instrumental in the detection, prevention, and control of the COVID-19 and Ebola epidemics in Uganda. 

U.S. Partner:  Baylor College of Medicine  

Site Contact:

Bridgette Naik, bcnaik@bcm.edu

Dithan Kiragga: dkiragga@baylor-uganda.org

Maral Gurbanova: maral.gurbanova@bcm.edu

Applicants are required to obtain a letter of support from the site contact.  

When emailing project contacts, please include both contacts and attach a current CV and a concise statement (less than 500 words) about your interest in the program (especially your primary research interest).

Affiliation: Makerere University

Areas of Focus:

• Lung health
• Tuberculosis
• Non-communicable diseases
• HIV
• Implementation science

Summary of the Site/Ongoing Research Projects:

The Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MaKCHS) is one of the leading medical universities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its mission is to improve the health of people of Uganda through innovative teaching and research and the provision of services responsive to societal needs. Opportunities are available at the following sites operating within MaKCHS:

Uganda TB Implementation Research Consortium (U-TIRC) & World Alliance for Lung and Intensive Care Medicine in Uganda (Walimu)

The World Alliance for Lung and Intensive Care Medicine in Uganda (Walimu) is a non-governmental institution that has a memorandum of understanding with Makerere University and hosts the Uganda TB Implementation Research Consortium (U-TIRC). U-TIRC is an academic-public health partnership involving the Uganda Ministry of Health, Makerere, and several overseas universities including Yale, Johns Hopkins, New York University, and several campuses of the University of California. Walimu oversees and operates a large portfolio of research and implementation projects funded by the U.S. NIH and other governments, foundations, public health, and development agencies who sponsor research and implementation activities. Walimu also sponsors robust local training and capacity building initiatives through its own programs and by hosting individual fellowships. Scientifically, U-TIRC focuses on improving tuberculosis prevention, diagnostic evaluation, case finding, and linkage to care by undertaking high quality clinical, epidemiological and implementation science research. U-TIRC is particularly interested in the effects of comorbidities including HIV and chronic diseases, and in addressing the TB-HIV-NCD syndemic. 

Uganda Initiative for Integrated Management of Non-Communicable Diseases (UINCD)

The Uganda Initiative for Integrated Management of Non-Communicable Diseases (UINCD) is a Uganda-based research-to-policy consortium between faculty at Makerere University College of Health Sciences (Uganda) and Yale School of Medicine (U.S.), and leadership at Mulago National Referral Hospital (Uganda) and the Uganda Ministry of Health. The mission of UINCD is to build capacity in the realms of prevention, care, training, and research to enable the provision of effective and integrated care along the NCD management spectrum. While physically based in the capital city, Kampala, UINCD’s reach includes the entire country of Uganda. The breadth of UINCD’s work includes access to essential medicines; self-care for NCDs including heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, and mental illness; mobile health, and HIV-hypertension integration.

Examples of current and recent research projects include:

• Implementation of PEN-Plus, a WHO-adopted integrated care strategy to increase the quality of services for severe chronic conditions at referral centers
• Using mobile health to improve self-care among patients with heart failure
• Integrated management of HIV and hypertension
• Updating the Uganda Essential Medicine and Health Supplies List for cardiovascular disease and other common chronic conditions

Other features of this site include:

• Infection Diseases Institute (IDI) is a Ugandan not-for-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen health systems in Africa, with a strong emphasis on infectious diseases, through research and capacity development. Established within Makerere University, the Institute provides care and treatment services to over 100,000 people living with HIV in urban and rural settings in Uganda. IDI is also a national referral center for complicated cases of HIV. IDI leads a weekly research forum that serves as a regular venue for scientific exchange on HIV-TB research questions, among other topics.
• The Makerere Lung Institute (MLI) is a research institute that was established in 2015 to respond to the epidemic of lung diseases in Uganda and other similar resource-limited settings. MLI seeks to conduct lung health research that integrates disease prevention, clinical care, and training. MLI hosts a monthly Day of Lung Science, which provides a forum for presentation of and feedback on scientific research by local investigators active in clinical and implementation research in TB in Uganda.
• The Integrated Biorepository of H3Africa Uganda (IBRH3AU) is a biorepository located at Makerere College of Health Sciences with state-of-the-art facilities with the capacity to store over 400,000 samples. Its mission is to provide researchers with relevant genomic analyses to test new diagnostics, personalize treatment options and develop new treatment methods. The Director is Dr. Moses Joloba, Dean of the School of Biomedical Sciences at Makerere University, and an expert in translational research in TB. Services offered include processing of peripheral blood mononuclear cells, storage of serum, plasma, and whole blood, as well as culture isolates in an affiliated BSL3 laboratory.
• The Mycobacteriology Laboratory is a state-of-the-art facility that is the only laboratory at Makerere University accredited to handle highly infectious agents. Equipment available in the BSL-3 laboratory includes a high containment area, a MGIT 960 automated culture machine; two level two bio-safety cabinets, CO2 incubators; inverted microscopes; refrigeration facilities; and an automated back-up generator system. 

US Partner/Consortia Name: Global Health Equity Scholars (Yale University)

Site Contacts/PIs:

Luke Davis, MD

U.S. Mentor (U-TIRC)

Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Pulmonary); Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Yale University

lucian.davis@yale.edu

Ryan Borg

Program Manager

Yale School of Public Health

ryan.borg@yale.edu

Affiliation: Makerere University (Kampala)  Mbarara University of Science and Technology (Mbarara)/Global Health Uganda               

US partner: University of Minnesota

Contact: Dr. Shailey Prasad (pras0054@umn.edu)

Eligibility: Post-third year medical school; Post graduation from medical school; Ph.D. students in health sciences (post-Master’s-level)

Background:

The University of Minnesota has a long-standing research relationship with multiple colleges at Makerere University (Infectious Disease Institute, College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, and the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources, and Biosecurity) starting in 2005 and with Mbarara University starting in 2010 regarding neuro-infectious disease research. The University of Minnesota has enabled training for 7 PhDs and 13 master’s Ugandan trainees through nested projects of NIH-sponsored clinical research. Since 2012, 20 Fogarty Scholars and Fellows have been trained in this capacity through 1-year global health fellowships (1 at MUST, 19 at Makerere). Additionally, three Ugandan principal investigators have obtained independent NIH funding.

The University of Minnesota has strong resources to support research fellows through an extensive network of researchers at all three institutions committed to advancing research training.

Project descriptions:

• HIV and Cryptococcal Meningitis
• Epidemiology and surveillance systems for infectious disease and zoonotic infection
• Mobile health interventions (women’s health and HIV)
• Immunology
• Neuropsychology
• Nutrition (primarily pediatric) and infectious disease
• Vaccine research

Affiliations: Mbarara University of Science and Technology

U.S. Partner: Integrated Network of Scholars in Global Health Research Training (INSIGHT), University of Alabama at Birmingham 

Site Contact: 

Anna Helova: ahelova@uab.edu

Tayyaba Khan: khan14@uab.edu 

Site Specialties

• HIV care
• HIV prevention
• Reproductive health
• health sciences education
• human medicine
• nursing
• medical laboratory sciences
• pharmacy
• pharmaceutical sciences
• physiotherapy
• interdisciplinary healthcare delivery through community-based education, research, and service (COBERS)

Site Description

Mbarara University of Science & Technology (commonly known as MUST), a public university in Uganda commenced student intake and instruction in 1989 and is one of the ten public universities and degree-awarding institutions in the country. MUST is accredited by the National Council for Higher Education in Uganda and has acclaimed national and international recognition for best practices in outreach and community relations from Association of Commonwealth Universities, European Union and the Civil Society of Uganda. The Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) is the sole teaching hospital for the MUST Medical School and is the referral hospital for the Western Region of Uganda. The 320 bed referral hospital provides outpatient and inpatient clinical care, training, and research infrastructure in southwestern Uganda - a region 36,870 square kilometers in size with a population of over 5 million representing about 18% of the national population. MRRH houses the Immune Suppression Syndrome Clinic (ISS Clinic), a PEPFAR-funded clinical site, which serves as the hospital’s HIV outpatient clinic. 

Research

MUST Faculty is dedicated to training a diverse group of future leaders in academic health professions and clinical practice who will combine clinical medicine with the discovery of new knowledge through research.  MUST has an Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Laboratory providing diagnostic microbiology services for improved patient care. With the recent addition of upgraded workstations, storage units, air conditioning, a bio-safety cabinet, a laboratory refrigerator, an incubator 405L, a bacticinerator, turbidity meter, and a magnetic stirrer, the lab is classified as a Bio-safety Level II. The MUST Research Laboratory is a certified Clinical and Research Laboratory which implements Good Clinical Practice protocols for the processing, storage and testing of laboratory specimens for the adjacent MRRH hospital. The laboratory also houses a Beckman Coulter AU480 chemistry analyzer, Thermo Fischer Scientific Applied Biosystems Viia7 Real-time PCR assay, laminar flow biosafety hoods, three centrifuges, and an additional bank of freezers with backup generator power source. With a modern laboratory of this nature both MRRH and MUST serve students, researchers and patients in the entire western Uganda region. 

MUST Global Health Research Collaboration 

The MUST Global Health Research Collaboration has worked for over 16 years to develop partnerships with Massachusetts General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, Vanderbilt University, University of Virginia, UAB, University of Minnesota, Lund University, and many others.  These partnerships have helped the MUST Research Collaboration to grow extensive research infrastructure in Mbarara. 

The Collaboration occupies fully equipped and independent research space adjacent to MUST and MRRH for conduct of clinical research. Collaboration facilities include enrollment and interview rooms, an independent phlebotomy and specimen collection room, staff offices, and meeting space as well as 24-hour internet access (with 4G modem data management packages), remote library access, and remote study database access for data entry, quality assurance, and analysis. 

Applicants are required to obtain a letter of support from the site contact.  

When emailing project contacts, please include both contacts and attach a current CV and a concise statement (less than 500 words) about your interest in the program (especially your primary research interest).

Grantees should make their own housing arrangements.   They should consult their program hosts and contacts for advice.