The UNZA-Vanderbilt Training Partnership for HIV-Nutrition-Metabolic Research (UVP) brings the University of Zambia School of Medicine/University Teaching Hospital (UNZA/UTH) together with the long- standing collaborating institutional strengths of Vanderbilt U. and its Institute for Global Health (VIGH). We pro- pose to address research training needs in the complex area of HIV and nutrition/metabolism interactions. Our mission is to train UNZA HIV research leaders in nutritionally- and metabolically-related complications and comorbidities of HIV, while expanding UNZA/UTH's clinical research training and investigative capacities. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) scale-up has turned HIV into a chronic condition with long-term complications. Nutritional factors are central to many of these, especially in low-income countries, affecting HIV pathogenic processes in the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, nervous system, and cardiovascular system. UNZA-Vanderbilt collaborations have discovered multiple nutritional influences on ART outcomes. UNZA has identified PhD-level training as a key mechanism for developing advanced research capacity and academic leadership within the institution. UVP will provide long-term training in clinical investigation for advanced UNZA trainees and junior faculty members, leading to 10 sandwich PhD degrees awarded by UNZA and undergirded by Vanderbilt research mentorship and resources. It will support innovative multidisciplinary mentored disserta- tion research focused on nutritionally- and metabolically-related complications and comorbidities of HIV. The UVP proposal is distinguished by a 16-year AITRP partnership that has enabled 41 Zambians to obtain advanced degrees. A Vanderbilt Internal Medicine faculty member has been embedded at UNZA/UTH since 2009, substantially facilitating many US grant-funded education and training efforts (AITRP, MEPI, ZEPACT, FICRS-F, Fogarty GHF). A large-scale HIV-nutrition clinical trial (NUSTART) is building a large spec- imen and data repository on which trainees can base research and design long-term follow-up studies. UVP will strengthen the UNZA PhD Program by conducting in-country consultations and faculty devel- opment workshops to strengthen PhD mentoring standards, develop substantial methodological core courses, and assess measureable milestones. It will provide career development opportunities for research-focused UNZA faculty members via four-month VU-based postdoctoral sabbaticals, and expand clinical research col- laborations between UNZA and Vanderbilt investigators, to attract extramural research funding. We will document the program's long-term success by tracking major trainee outputs; providing ongoing skill-building opportunities for our AITRP alumni; conducting regular program evaluations; and engaging our AITRP alumni as active in-country instructors in our ongoing Zambia-based training. UVP will strengthen UNZA's capacity to train future researchers, attract extramural research funding, and generate high- impact research outputs. Sustainability will be maximized through the mentoring of future mentors. 1
The mission of the UNZA-Vanderbilt Training Partnership for HIV-Nutrition-Metabolic Research (UVP) is to train the next generation of Zambian HIV research leaders, specifically in nutritionally- and metabolically- related complications and comorbidities of HIV, while expanding the University of Zambia (UNZA) / University Teaching Hospital's (UTH) clinical research training and investigative capacities. UVP will provide long-term training in clinical investigation for advanced UNZA trainees and junior faculty members, leading to 10 'sandwich' PhD degrees awarded by UNZA and undergirded by Vanderbilt research mentorship and resources. UVP will strengthen UNZA's capacity to train future researchers, attract extramural research funding, and generate high-impact research outputs.
| Kayamba, Violet; Shibemba, Aaron; Zyambo, Kanekwa et al. (2017) High prevalence of gastric intestinal metaplasia detected by confocal laser endomicroscopy in Zambian adults. PLoS One 12:e0184272 |
