Institute Projects

AITRP - AIDS International Research and Training Program (AITRP) - NIH/FIC
Vanderbilt-UAB-AITRP:  Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan, Zambia

The Vanderbilt-UAB-AITRP training partnership with international collaborators from 5 countries (Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan, Zambia) is designed to train foreign scientists and key research support staff to conduct independent research and training in their home countries and to perform at an internationally credible level in collaborations with both local and foreign scientists. Now in its tenth year of funding from the Fogarty International Center, the AITRP has trained 60 persons in MPH, MSPH, or DrPH degrees - nearly all of whom have returned to their home nations - and over 1200 persons in short courses. Dr. Vermund is PI and has principal foreign collaborators at key institutions in the target countries.
UAB AITRP Program
AITRP Official Website

Syed Asad Ali, MBBS
Dr. Ali is involved in multiple projects during his AITRIP fellow training. Initially, he completed a review of prevalence and modes of transmission of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C in Pakistan, under the mentorship of Sten Vermund. This work was selected for oral presentation at the St. Jude/Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Pediatric Microbial Research Conference, Memphis, Tennessee in February 2005, and will be published shortly. Dr. Ali is currently a subinvestigator in a phase 1 trial at Vanderbilt University for a novel malaria vaccine in which a nucleotide sequence representing the surface circumsporozite antigen of Plasmodium falciparum is inserted in a replication deficient backbone of adenovirus 35. Dr. Kathryn Edwards is his mentor and principal investigator for this project. Dr. Ali is also in the process of starting a new research project to find the burden of RSV and Influenza virus in children 0 to 5 year of age in Pakistan. This will be a collaborative project between Vanderbilt University and the Aga Khan University in Pakistan.

Abdul Momin Kazi, MBBS
Dr. Kazi is conducting research to evaluate the burden of Tuberculosis (TB), HIV/AIDS, Syphilis, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) among inmates of District Jail Malir, Karachi, Pakistan. Pakistani prisons are incubators of tuberculosis and are also potential screening venues for HIV and STIs. This study will be conducted to assess the prevalence and volume of TB, HIV/AIDS, Syphilis, HBV, and HCV in an incarcerated population of Karachi. The project will also provide capacity building of jail medical and paramedical staff on STIs and TB case management, strengthen prison clinic, DOTS implementation and also develop linkages between AIDS and Tuberculosis control Programs in Sindh province. This is expected to be the pioneer study for Pakistan. Very few organizations are working with prison inmates on these diseases and the current efforts have noted poor ties to community efforts. Dr. Momin Kazi is under the direction of Dr. Sten Vermund.

Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars (FICRS) Support Center  
Vanderbilt University - The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)

The Vanderbilt University Institute for Global Health (VIGH) in partnership with the (AAMC) and the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) will develop the FIC Research Scholars Program (FICRS) Resource and Support Center and manage the Fogarty International Center Clinical Scholars Program (FICSP) in Global Health. The purpose of this five-year program is to foster the next generation of clinical investigators with an eye toward building international health research collaborations in the developing world. The FICSP is a one-year, mentored training experience which provides opportunities for U.S. graduate students in the health professions to participate in clinical research and have hands-on experience at top-ranked, NIH-funded research centers in Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, China, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mali, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, and Zambia. The FICRS Resource and Support Center at VIGH will oversee overall program management, information dissemination and applicant selection, communications, program coordination and logistics, program monitoring and evaluation, organization of educational programs and conferences, and maintain relationships with program alumni. Dr. Sten Vermund is the principal investigator of this grant.
American Association of Medical Colleges
NIH/FIC Scholars Program

Framework Program for Global Health - NIH/Fogarty International Center
Vanderbilt-Meharry Framework Program
This Framework proposal will support innovation and enhancement of existing programs by introducing course offerings in global health for both undergraduate and graduate students, facilitating interdisciplinary faculty research in global health, and coordinating VU/MMC-wide activities to share knowledge and foster local and global networking. While existing foreign research and educational collaborations span all 6 inhabited continents and more than 30 countries, we will facilitate collaborative course sharing, research partnerships, and student and faculty exchanges with our 5 key overseas partner institutions, selected for their long-standing relationships with VU/MMC: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru; Fudan University School of Public Health in Shanghai, China; University of Zambia School of Medicine in Lusaka, Zambia; and the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico. (NIH funded September 2006, up for review in July 2007)
FIC Framework Official Website

HPTN - HIV Prevention Trials Network Leadership Group - NIH/NIAID
(subcontract from FHI) Multiple countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America
The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) is a worldwide collaborative clinical trials network that develops and tests the safety and efficacy of primarily non-vaccine interventions designed to prevent the transmission of HIV. Established in 1999 by the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the HPTN carries out its mission through a strong network of expert scientists and investigators from more than two dozen international sites partnered with a leadership group comprised of three U.S.-based institutions. Dr. Vermund is PI of the Network CORE, which is responsible for scientific management of the HPTN, starting with research plan development and continuing through protocol review, study implementation, and publication of results. The CORE also is responsible for logistical, administrative, and communications support for HPTN committees, scientific working groups, protocol teams, and Community Advisory Boards. The CORE works closely with DAIDS Program and Grants Management staff on monitoring and resource allocation within the Network, including the management of the HPTN discretionary fund. He is also Chair of the HPTN Executive Committee, which sets the overall priorities of the HPTN and develops the prevention research agenda, and the Prevention Management Group, which is responsible for operational decision making and management of the Network.
HPTN Official Website
Family Health International Website

China

NIH/NIAID Estimation Models for HIV/AIDS in China - This Vanderbilt-China CDC collaboration is designed to exploit existing data and surveillance systems to better model HIV prevalence rates in three Chinese provinces: Fujian (sexual transmission), Yunnan (injection drug use and sexual transmission), and Xinjiang (injection drug use and sexual transmission). Dr. Vermund is PI, Dr. Xinhua Sun co-PI, and Dr. Yujiang Jia is project director.

Measuring Incident HIV-1 Infections in China - NIH/NIAID
The objective of this study is to validate a novel serologic method, an IgG-capture-types B, E, and D ("BED")-enzyme immunoassay (BED-CEIA), to identify recent HIV-1 seroconversion. If the BED-CEIA is validated for HIS in the Chinese HIV context, we will plan a pilot study to integrate this incidence assay into the current HIV/AIDS surveillance system in Dehong Prefecture and Kunming City (Yunnan) in the last months of our grant. If BED-CEIA is not validated successfully for HIS, we will forego the planning of the pilot study and, rather, will begin to develop an improved assay that is more suitable for the circulating HIV-1 subtypes in China. Dr. Yujiang Jia is spearheading this effort. (Begins July 2007)

CFAR Developmental Award Vanderbilt-Meharry
This award will be used to supplement the NIH Measuring Incident HIV-1 Infections in China award.
(March 1, 2007 to Februry 29, 2008)

India

Cervical Cancer Screening In HIV-Infected Women in India - NIH/NCI
This Vanderbilt-UAB-National AIDS Research Institute (NARI)-BJ Medical College-Sassoon Hospital-Johns Hopkins University collaboration seeks to assess the validity of alternative screening approaches for cervical cancer among HIV-infected women. We compare the accuracy and acceptability of cervical cytology (‘Pap smears’) to direct examination of the cervix with acetic acid (visual inspection with acetic acid or VIA) and human papillomavirus (HPV) testing among HIV-infected women seeking HIV-clinical care in Pune, India. Our study will guide the development of a larger prevention intervention trial that will aim to develop evidence-based guidelines for cervical cancer prevention in HIV-infected women residing in resource-limited settings. Dr. Vermund is PI, Dr. Sanjay Mehendale from NARI is co-PI, and Dr. Vikrant Sahasrabuddhe is project director.

Mozambique

PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) in Mozambique - CDC-GAP
(subcontract from the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation [EGPAF] to Vanderbilt U.)
Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Global Health oversees HIV care and treatment programs in three rural sites in Zambézia Province: Ilé, Alto Molòcué, and Namacurra. VU is the principal implementing partner, supported by collaborators from Meharry Medical College through the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance. Vanderbilt provides expert assistance in care and treatment, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), psychological support, community-based program development and action, logistics, infrastructure improvements, training of local medical staff, and program implementation. VU has established Friends in Global Health, a limited liability corporation (and NGO) in Mozambique to facilitate fiscal and administrative matters. VU staff serves local clinic and supports the regional and provincial health officials providing technical assistants, trainers, facilitators of operations (clinical, M&E, pharmacy, and laboratory), quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC), procurement partners, logistics and transport partners, and funding conduits for DPS activities. Dr. Vermund is PI. (through December 2007)
PEPFAR Official Website
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Website