Three Duke trainees, one medical student and two Duke Global Health OB/GYN Fellows, have been awarded funding through The Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars and Fellows Program for mentored clinical research training in a low- or middle-income country.
Duke Global Health OB/GYN Fellows Drs. Erin Dainty and Ayaba Worjoloh are 2011-2012 Fogarty Fellows who will be doing clinical research in East Africa. They are enrolled in the Duke Global Health Residency/Fellowship Pathway, a multidisciplinary postgraduate training program offered through the Hubert-Yeargan Center for Global Health and the Duke Global Health Institute.
Dainty, also a Master of Science in Global Health student, will study cervical cancer screening and HPV genotyping in Eldoret, Kenya. Cervical cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in Kenya and is the second cause of death, yet there is limited cervical cancer screening conducted in the country. The region also bears a large burden of HIV/AIDS. Dainty’s project aims to better understand the HIV/HPV co-infection in women and explore the development of effective screening programs in Eldoret and surrounding areas.
“The real value of the Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellowship is the fact that it has a larger focus on career development, not just funding support for research. It is perfectly suited to the stage I am at in my research career because it is heavily focused on mentorship,” said Dainty, whose Duke mentors include Drs. David Walmer and Nathan Thielman. “I am optimistic this award will lay the groundwork on which I can build my future career in international clinical work and relevant clinical research.”
Worjoloh will conduct a pilot study on group antenatal care in Moshi, Tanzania. Antenatal care is an important point of contact between a woman and the health care system during pregnancy, and can have a positive impact on maternal and neonatal health. However, few studies have examined how it might be tailored for specific cultural and institutional settings. Worjoloh will identify key components of the content and delivery of a culturally-tailored group model, with the aim of piloting this form of antenatal care among pregnant women at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, a partner organization of DGHI.
“The Fogarty has connected me to a dedicated community of globally-minded citizens, and it is through networks like this that sustainable development in the health arena can be attained,” said Worjoloh, whose Duke mentors include Drs. John Bartlett and Nathan Thielman. “Group antenatal care is a concept which I hope will improve the health of mothers and service delivery to pregnant women in Tanzania. Also, executing this project will provide me invaluable research experience as I move forward in my career.”
Third-year medical student Jonathan Higgins is a 2011-2012 Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholar who has begun his year-long research project in South Asia. His work will focus on chronic diseases and public health in Bangladesh, where cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic lung disease are becoming more prevalent and are highly under-diagnosed. The Fogarty award complements the Third Year Global Health Study Program from the Duke Global Health Institute, which helps med students coordinate a year-long global health research project in a resource-poor setting.
“It took a moment for that to set in. I would be returning to South Asia. To a place and a people who had provided such profound inspiration for my decision to enter medicine and pursue a global health career serving the underserved and marginalized,” wrote Higgins on his blog, who had spent time in India last year doing a clinical rotation. “I am quite thankful to have received the Fogarty grant for research in Bangladesh as many, many competitive applicants no less qualified than me could not be funded.”
Higgins is meeting with various leaders at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh to identify a specific clinical research project related to chronic diseases and public health. His interests include health systems access research, implementation science, the role and effectiveness of community health workers in the health care system, surgical disease and maternal, neonatal, and child health. His Duke mentors are Drs. Nathan Thielman and Dennis Clements.
