Fogarty/Ellison Overseas Fellowships in Global Health and Clinical Research Training

2006 Recipients

The Fogarty International Center (FIC), part of the National Institutes of Health, announces the 23 awardees of the 2006 FIC/Ellison Overseas Fellowships in Global Health and Clinical Research Program.

The training program pairs U.S. graduate students with low-and middle-income country students in the health sciences. These paired awardees receive one year of mentored clinical research training at an NIH-funded institution in a developing country.

The FIC, the Ellison Medical Foundation, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases jointly support the fellowship program. The Association of American Medical Colleges and the Association of Schools of Public Health provide program support for recruitment and review.

Twenty-three fellows were selected from the 136 U.S. applicants in the third annual competition. Representatives from 18 foreign sites identified 24 fellows at similar stages in their careers to "twin" with the U.S. Fellows.

The 2006 United States and foreign partner awardees are:

• Channa R. Jayasekera, MD candidate, Duke University and Yasmin Ara Begum, MS., Ph.D. candidate, Dhaka University will work in Bangladesh at ICDDR,B Centre for Health and Population Research under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen B. Calderwood, Harvard School of Public Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Firdausi Qadri, ICDDR,B. The focus of their training will be related to vibrio cholerae and enterotoxigenic bacteriodes fragilis (ETBF) infections.


• Carl Davis, Ph.D., MD candidate, University of Pennsylvania and David Nkwe, MSc., Botswana-Harvard Partnership, will work in Gaborone, Botswana at the Princess Marina Hospital under the mentorship of Dr. Myron Essex, Harvard School of Public Health, and Dr. Joe Makhema, Princess Marina Hospital. The focus of their training will be acute HIV infection.


• Benjamin Kozyak, MD candidate, University of Pennsylvania; Christopher Eller, MD candidate, University of Virginia; Andrêssa Aby Faraj L. Maciel, MD candidate, Federal University of Ceará; and Ila Fernanda Nunes Lima, MD., PhD candidate, Federal University of Ceará, will work in Fortaleza, Brazil, at Federal University of Ceara under the mentorship of Dr. Warren D. Johnson, Jr., Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Dr. Richard Guerrant, Center for Global Health, University of Virginia; Dr. Reinaldo Oria and Dr. Aldo A.M. Lima, Federal University of Bahia. The focus of their training will be focusing on genetic determinants and molecular testing for chronic childhood diarrhea, particularly such pathogens as Enteroaggregative E Coli, Giardia and Cryptosporidia.


• Tracey Newlove, MD candidate, University of Arizona College of Medicine, and Ricardo Riccio Oliveira, MS., PhD candidate, Federal University of Bahía, will work in Salvador, Brazil, at the Federal University of Bahía under the mentorship of Dr. Warren D. Johnson, Jr., Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Dr. Richard Guerrant, Center for Global Health, University of Virginia; and Dr. Edgar M. Carvalho, Federal University of Bahía. The focus of their training will be tropical infectious diseases such as immunopathogenisis of mucosal leismaniasis.


• Susan P.Y. Wong, MD candidate, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Musang Liu, MD, National Center for STD and Leprosy Control, will work in Nanjing, China, at the National Center for STD and Leprosy Control under the mentorship of Dr. Myron Cohen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and Dr. Xiang-Sheng Chen, National Center for STD and Leprosy Control. The focus of their training will be in acute HIV prevention research.


• Peter G. Bendix, MD candidate, University of California at Davis School of Medicine, and Clovy Bellot, MD., Head of HIV/TB Unit, GHESKIO Centers, will work in Haiti at GHESKIO under the mentorship of Dr. Warren D. Johnson, Jr., Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Dr. Daniel Fitzgerald, Cornell University; and Dr. Jean Pape, GHESKIO. The focus of their training will be in HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis.


• Elizabeth Houle, MD candidate, Yale University School of Medicine, and Rupa Laskhmi Harshavardhan, will work in Chennai, India, at the YR Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research under the mentorship of Dr. Kenneth Mayer, Brown University, and Dr. Suniti Solomon, Director, YR Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research. The focus of their training will be reproductive health issues in HIV/AIDS and antiretroviral therapy adherence.


• Karen Ast, MPH, MD candidate, SUNY Downstate Medical School, and Rajiv Sarkar, will work in Vellore, India, at the Christian Medical College under the mentorship of Dr. Christine Wanke, Tufts University, and Dr. Gagandeep Kang, Christian Medical College. The focus of their training will be epidemiology of HIV infection.


• Jessica Beard, MD candidate, Yale School of Medicine, and Serah Ndegwa, MBChB., will work in Nairobi, Kenya, at the University of Nairobi under the mentorship of Dr. King Holmes and Dr. Carey Farquhar, both of University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center, Center for AIDS and STD, and Dr. James Kiarie, University of Nairobi AIDS Research and Training Program. The focus of their training will be HIV transmission.


• Krishna Reddy, MD candidate, Harvard Medical School; Paul Walker, MD candidate, Yale School of Medicine; Gerson Darío Galdos Cádenas, MD.; and Julio Alberto Lanfranco Molina, MD will be work in Lima, Peru, at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Gilman, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. The focus of their training will be related to emerging infectious diseases.


• Christina Rager, MD candidate, SUNY Brooklyn; Christina Khan, PhD., MD candidate, University of Illinois College of Medicine; Isaac Efraín Alva López, MD.; and Peggy C. Martínez Esteban, MD., will work in Lima, Peru, at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia under the mentorship of Dr. King Holmes and Dr. Joseph Zunt, both of University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center, Center for AIDS and STD, and Dr. Silvia Montano, US Naval Medical Research Center Detachment. The focus of their training will be HIV prevention and vaccines.


• AuTumn Davidson, MD candidate, Brown Medical School, and Yanis Tolstov, MSc., PhD. Candidate, St. Petersburg State University, will work in St. Petersburg, Russia at the Biomedical Center under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Heimer, Yale School of Public Health, and Dr. Andrei P. Kozlov, Director, Biomedical Center. The focus of their training will be sex and drug related HIV risks and transmissions.


• James Hudspeth, MD candidate, Washington University School of Medicine; Devina Govender, MBChB, and Sengeziwe Sibeko, MBChB., FCOG., PhD candidate, will work in Durban, South Africa at Natal University under the mentorship of Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, CAPRISA and Dr. Alan Berkman, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The focus of their training will be HIV/AIDS prevention and antiretroviral therapy implementation.


• Sarah Hoehnen, MD candidate, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Ute Feucht, MBChB, FCP., will work in Pretoria, South Africa, at Kalafong Hospital, University of Pretoria under the mentorship of Dr. Brian Forsyth, Yale School of Medicine, and Prof. Mariana Kruger, Kalagong Hospital. The focus of their training will be HVI/AIDS and mother and child health.


• Anna Acosta, MD candidate, New York University School of Medicine, and Ramadhani Mwiru, MD., MS., Aga Khan Hospital will work in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at Muhimbili University under the mentorship of Dr. Wafaie Fawzi, Harvard School of Public Health, and Prof. Ferdinand Mugusi, Muhimbili University. The focus of their training will be nutrition and HIV/AIDS.


• Benjamin Lee, MD candidate, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; Tanyaporn Wansom, MD candidate, University of Michigan Medical School; Utaiwan Utaipat, PhD., MSc.; and Parichat Pimsarn, MD., will work in Thailand at Chiang Mai University, Research Institute for Health Sciences (RIHES) under the mentorship of Dr. Chris Beyrer, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Voravit Suwanvanichkij, MD., MPH., Research Associate, Chiang Mai University. The focus of their training will be HIV and STD transmission and prevention.


• Katherine R. Dickman, MD candidate, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Lydia Nakiyingi, MBChB., PhD. Candidate, Makerere University, will work in Kampala, Uganda at the Makerere University under the mentorship of Dr. Christopher Whalen, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Dr. Moses Kamya, and Dr. Harriet Mayanja-Kizza. The focus of their training will be HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis prevention and therapy.


• Jason Goldman, MD candidate, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Kenneth Chali Kapembwa, MBChB, MMed. candidate, University of Zambia, will work in Lusaka, Zambia at the Center for Infectious Disease Research-Zambia (CIDRZ) under the mentorship of Dr. Sten Vermund, Vanderbilt University, University of Alabama Medical Center, Institute for Global Health, and Dr. Jeffrey Stringer, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Dr. Isaac Zulu, CIDRZ. The focus of their training will be HIV seroincidence.


• Krista Pfaendler, MD candidate, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Christopher Nyirenda, MBChB, MMed. Candidate, University of Zambia, will work in Lusaka, Zambia at the Center for Infectious Disease Research-Zambia (CIDRZ) under the mentorship of Dr. Sten Vermund, Vanderbilt University, University of Alabama Medical Center, Institute for Global Health, and Dr. Groesbeck Parham, University of Alabama Medical Center, and Dr. Mulindi Mwanahamuntu, CIDRZ. The focus of their training will be HIV seroincidence.