2008-2009 ICRF Fellows

The 2008-2009 United States and foreign partner International Clinical Research Fellows are:

Scott Peterson, MD, Infectious Disease Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Oluwemimo Jayeoba, MBChB. They will work in Gaborone, Botswana, at the Botswana Harvard Partnership (BHP) under the mentorship of Shahin Lockman, MD, MSc, and Aida Asmelash.  The focus of their research will be the safety of contrimoxazole prophyslaxis in HIV and HAART, exposed infants in Botswana.

Joseph Tucker, MD, Infectious Disease Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Jin Bu, PhD. They will work in Nanjing, China at the National Center for STD & Leprosy Control, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences under the mentorship of Myron Cohen, MD and Xiang-Sheng Chen, MD, PhD.  The focus of their research will be syphilis and HIV in the People's Republic of China.

Navjyot Vidwan, MD, Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She will work in Vellore, India, at Christian Medical College under the mentorship of Mark Steinhoff, MD and Valsan Verghese, MD.  The focus of her research will be chlamydia trachomatis: a study on the burden of disease in pregnant women and maternal transmission to the infant in Vellore, India, with particular focus on conjunctivitis and pneumonitis infection.

Robert Choi, MD, MIA, Infectious Disease Fellow, University of Washington, and Francisca Atieno Ongecha-Owuor, MBChB, MMed. They will work in Nairobi, Kenya, at University of Nairobi under the mentorship of Carey Farquhar, MD, MPH, and Barbara Lohman-Payne, PhD. The focus of their research will be the role of mucosal IgA in protection against HIV-1 acquisition.

Jane Wanyiri, PhD, Post Doctorate, Tufts University, and Cecilia K. Mbae, MSc, BSc. They will work in Nairobi, Kenya, at Kenya Medical Research Institute under the mentorship of Honorine Ward, MD, and Claire Wamae, PhD. The focus of their research will be immune responses to cryptosporidium in HIV infected adults in Kenya.

Obinna Nedu, MD, Infectious Disease Fellow, University of Washington, and Evelyn Ngugi, MBChB. They will work in Nairobi, Kenya, at Kenya Medical Research Institute under the mentorship of Grace John-Stewart, MD, MPH, PhD, and Judd Walson, MD, MPH.  The focus of their research will be malaria in HIV-1,infected adults on TMP/SMZ: incidence, correlates and effects.

Oluwatoyin Fafowora, MD, MPH, Opthamology Fellow, UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute, and Adeyinka Ashaye, MD. They will work in Ibadan, Nigeria, at University of Ibadan, University College Hospital under the mentorship of Michael Gorin, MD, PhD, and Clement Adebamowo, DSc.  The focus of their research will be heritability of juvenile glaucoma in a genetically diverse population.

Jessica Yager, MD, Internal Medicine Resident, UCSF, and Verónica Yauri León. They will work in Lima, Peru, at Asociación Benéfica Proyectos en Informática, Salud, Medicina, y Agricultura (AB PRISMA) under the mentorship of Caryn Bern, MD, and Faustino Torrico, MD.  The focus of their research will be congenital Chagas disease.

Jodie Dionne-Odom, MD, Infectious Disease Fellow, Emory University; Roger Bayingana, MD; and Bellington Vwalika, MD, Master’s candidate, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. They will work in Kigali, Rwanda, and Lusaka, Zambia, at the Rwanda-Zambia HIV Research Group under the mentorship of Carlos del Rio, MD and Susan Allen, MD, MPH.  The focus of their research will be co-infection of HIV and syphilis in Zambia and Rwanda.

Sheela Shenoi, MD, Infectious Disease Fellow, Yale School of Medicine and Teke Apalata, MBChB. They will work in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, at Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, Church of Scotland Hospital under the mentorship of Gerald Friedland, MD, and Adriaan Sturm, MD, PhD.  The focus of their research will be characterizing the epidemiology and transmission of XDRTB in rural South Africa.

David Edwards, MD, MPH, Clinical Research Fellow, University of Cape Town. He will work in Cape Town, South Africa at the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, University of Cape Town under the mentorship of Steven Lawn, MD, DTM&H, and Robin Wood, MD.  The focus of his research will be diagnosis of TB among HIV-infected patients with advanced immunodeficiency accessing ART.

Megan Morsheimer, MD, MPH candidate, University of Cape Town, and Angela Dramowski, FCPaed, MBChB. They will work in Stellenbosch, South Africa, at Stellenbosch University under the mentorship of Charles Mitchell, MD, and Mark Cotton, MD, PhD.  The focus of their research will be viral load and ART efficacy in infants with M. tuberculosis infection.

Sarah Owens, PhD. She will work in Cape Town, South Africa, at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine under the mentorship of Michael Aschner, PhD and Raj Ramesar.  The focus of her research will be genetic and environmental modifiers of colorectal cancer in South Africans.

Emily Wong, MD, Internal Medicine Resident, UCSF. She will work in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the Reproductive Health and HIV Research Unit, University of Witwatersrand under the mentorship of David Bangsberg, MD, MPH, and Willem Daniel Francois Venter, MD.  The focus of her research will be early deaths following initiation of antiretroviral therapy in Johannesburg.

Jeffrey Blander, ScD, Epidemiology post-doctorate fellow, Harvard School of Public Health, and Marina Njelekela, MD, PhD. They will work in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences under the mentorship of Wafaie Fawzi, MPH, DrPH, and Eligius Lyamuya, MD, PhD.  The focus of their research will be assessing HIV/AIDS CD4 microfluidic diagnostic tools and treatment adherence programs in Tanzania.

John Koethe, MD, Infectious Disease Fellow, Vanderbilt University, and Chitalu Musonda Banda,  BSc, MBChB. They will work in Lusaka, Zambia, at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) under the mentorship of Sten Vermund, MD, PhD, and Jeffrey Stringer, MD.  The focus of their research will be a randomized trial of therapeutic feeding at ART initiation in Zambia.