Program Director/Principal Investigator
Wafaie Fawzi, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., M.S., Dr.P.H., is Chair of the Department of Global Health and Population, Richard Saltonstall Professor of Population Sciences, and Professor of Nutrition, Epidemiology and Global Health at Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his medical training at the University of Khartoum, Sudan and his Doctorate of Public Health in 1992 in the Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard University. Over the past 20 years, he has led the design and implementation of NIH-funded randomized controlled trials and observational epidemiologic studies of perinatal health and infectious diseases, with emphasis on nutritional interventions. These studies have included examining the epidemiology of adverse pregnancy outcomes, childhood infections, HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria among populations in Tanzania, Uganda, India and other developing countries. Dr. Fawzi is also Principal Investigator of the CDC and HRSA-funded MDH HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Program. This projectin Dar es Salaam is buildingoperational research capacity in diagnosis and management, and providing pediatric health services in antenatal and under-5 clinics, as part of a broader health agenda among HIV-infected and uninfected adults and children. These collaborative epidemiological studies, operations research programs, and randomized clinical trials provide unique opportunities for training and capacity building in global health. Dr. Fawzi has led numerous training initiatives and is the Principal Investigator of an active training grant. Aims of the training program include establishing a framework to bring together the training activities related to nutrition and broader global health; developing new, multidisciplinary curricula and courses; offering internships to students from Harvard matched with students at collaborating sites; seminar series and annual symposia; and developing a cadre of skilled researchers in epidemiological, operations and health services and clinical areas, and facilitating sustainable capacity in the fields of nutrition, maternal and child health and infectious diseases.
Site Principal Investigator
Karim Manji, M.D., M.Med., M.P.H. is Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health, and former Dean of the School of Medicine at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Dr. Manji is also a senior pediatrician and neonatologist with extensive experience in research and training in child health. Dr. Manji has over 15 years of experience working in collaboration with partners in the United States (Harvard University and Children’s Hospital, Boston) and other countries focusing on large programmatic studies in relation to infectious diseases, child health and the efficacy of nutritional supplementation. Dr. Manji completed his Master of Public Health at HSPH with Dr. Fawzi, focusing on research methods and epidemiology in pediatric populations. He has conducted research investigating the epidemiology of common childhood infections, including diarrhea, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and meningitis, pediatric HIV infection and disease progression, and predictors of birth and neonatal outcomes. Dr. Manji is the in-country Principal Investigator of two ongoing NIH-funded trials investigating the effects of micronutrient supplementation on diarrhea, respiratory infections, and other pediatric health outcomes among children in Dar es Salaam. He administers clinical and research training on integrated management of childhood infections to health care workers in Tanzania. Dr. Manji is the outgoing Dean for the School of Medicine at Muhimbili and also a Pediatric Research Consultant at MUHAS. Additionally, he is a member of the scientific committees at Ifakara Health Institute and TFDA clinical trials. As a co-Investigator on this program, a productive researcher, and a trained clinical pediatrician, he is well positioned to help lead implementation and completion of this training program.
Co-Investigators
Christopher Duggan, M.D., M.P.H. is Associate Professor of Nutrition at HSPH and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Dr. Duggan’s research interests include the nutritional management of acute and persistent diarrhea, micronutrient trials in resource-poor countries to reduce common infectious morbidities, and energy and protein metabolism in catabolic diseases. He has worked on epidemiological studies and clinical trials evaluating the formulation and effectiveness of oral rehydration solutions (ORS) for the treatment of acute diarrhea in developing countries, and helped perform pivotal trials that led the WHO to change the formulation of ORS to a new low-osmolarity solution. He is the PI of a large randomized trial of micronutrient supplementation in Tanzanian children and is currently involved in several studies in Tanzania evaluating the efficacy of micronutrient supplementation on reducing morbidity due to diarrheal diseases and acute respiratory infections, mortality, and other adverse health outcomes among young children.
Japhet Killewo, MBchB, MSc, PhD, is Professor of Epidemiology at MUHAS and former Chair of the Tanzania Public Health Association. Prof. Killewo has been involved in community-based public health research projects for over 30 years. His main research interests relate to targeting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, and has substantial research and training experience related to infectious diseases more broadly as well as maternal and child health interventions. He served as a Principal Investigator in several research projects in Tanzania and other countries. He was also the Principal Investigator of a multi-center study investigating logistical problems in the distribution of Family Planning commodities in five African countries. During his sabbatical in Bangladesh he directed the Reproductive Health Program at the International Center for Diarrheal Diseases Research. He is currently the local PI of the Dar Es Salaam Urban Cohort Study and the Evaluation of the Integrated facility/community maternal, newborn and child health in Morogoro in Tanzania study. He has experience with several training initiatives between Harvard and MUHAS.
Program Mentors
The faculty members for this training program were selected because of their expertise in methodological and substantive aspects of pediatric infectious disease and nutrition research in developing countries, with emphasis on diarrhea, respiratory infections and malnutrition, and their training records. The faculty members have considerable experience in endemic childhood conditions, including diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections, and in research projects in epidemiological, operations and health services, laboratory, and clinical content areas.
Harvard Faculty
Barry Bloom, Ph.D. is Professor of Public Health at HSPH. Among many others, he has served as a member of the National Advisory Council of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH, the National Advisory Board of the Fogarty International Center at the NIH, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Center for Infectious Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Bloom came to HSPH to serve as Dean of the Faculty in 1998. In his capacity as Dean, he served as Secretary Treasurer for the Association of Schools of Public Health. Dr. Bloom is a leading scientist in the areas of infectious diseases, vaccines, and global health and former consultant to the White House. He is a leading scientist in the areas of infectious diseases and vaccines. Dr. Barry Bloom continues to pursue an active interest in bench science in the areas of vaccines, immunology, vitamin D, and pediatric tuberculosis.
Stephen B. Calderwood, M.D. is Professor of Medicine at HMS. His research focuses on analyzing the genes and gene products involved in the molecular pathogenesis of bacterial infection caused by gram-negative pathogens, with a focus on diarrheal disease. He works with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh to analyze human mucosal immune responses following natural V. cholerae infection, analyze gene expression in V. cholerae directly in human samples, and use human immune responses following cholera. Research findings are used to identify uniquely expressed bacterial genes and to develop improved cholera vaccination strategies.
Richard Cash, M.D., M.P.H. is Senior Lecturer at HSPH. Dr. Cash is Senior Lecturer in Global Health at Harvard School of Public Health. He conducts training workshops addressing topics such as informed consent, confidentiality, investigator responsibilities, and the development of ethical review committees, and recently conducted one with our collaborators in Tanzania. He was the Principal Investigator of the Applied Diarrheal Disease Research Project, a program which assisted scientists from developing countries to refine their research skills and conduct independent research projects. This program funded over 150 studies, with more than 350 investigators in 12 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Research studies examined behavioral aspects of caretakers and providers, and prevention and treatment of persistent diarrhea and acute respiratory infections.
Matthew Gillman, M.D., S.M. is Professor in the Department of Nutrition at HSPH and Professor in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Gilman’s research interests include prevention of adult chronic disease, promotion of optimal nutrition for children and adults, and clinical epidemiology. He directs an NIH-funded cohort study investigating the effects of gestational diet on pregnancy outcomes in the neonatal and early childhood periods. He is interested in developmental origins of adult disease, including how nutritional status and growth in early childhood affects the onset of chronic disease later in childhood and in adulthood. He also participates in other studies of diet, activity, obesity, and cardiovascular risk in adults and children.
Donald Goldman, MD, is a Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology at HSPH and a Professor of Pediatrics at HMS. Dr. Goldmann has a long track record focused on identifying and testing innovative interventions to improve health care quality and safety, as well as in disseminating best practices in broad and diverse provider settings. Dr. Goldmann’s work has focused on preventing and controlling hospital-acquired infections and acute respiratory infections. He is currently pursuing three related investigational paths–infection control, health services research, and vaccine development. He is the chair of Risk Group 4 of the Bacteriology and Mycology Study Group funded by NIAID, which conducts clinical trials of interventions designed to reduce antimicrobial resistance in ICUs and other high-risk settings.
Marc Lipsitch, D.Phil. is Professor of Epidemiology at HSPH. His research focuses on the transmission dynamics and within-host population biology of infectious diseases. Dr. Lipsitch is using mathematical models and epidemiological data to evaluate the relationships between antimicrobial use and resistance in a number of bacterial and viral pathogens. He is also investigating the within-host population dynamics of antimicrobial resistance, in order to develop improved treatment protocols to reduce selection for resistant bacteria and to design studies to measure the selective effect of treatment on antimicrobial resistance. He is an author of more than 140 peer-reviewed publications on antimicrobial resistance, mathematical modeling of infectious disease transmission, and methods for analysis of infectious disease data.
Simin N. Meydani, D.V.M., Ph.D., Professor of Nutrition, Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy Immunology, Tufts University. Dr. Meydani has had a long-standing research collaboration with Dr. Fawzi and others at HSPH on research related to nutrition, immune infection and infectious diseases. She is the Director of the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory and leads the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. Dr. Meydani studies the impact of nutritional factors on the immune response and immune-related diseases including tuberculosis and acute respiratory infection; for years she focused on the effect of nutrients on immune response of the young and the aged with a special emphasis on the role of arachidonic acid metabolites.
Marcello Pagano, Ph.D. is Professor of Statistical Computing at HSPH. His research focuses on computer-intensive methods of biostatistical research, which add to the arsenal of techniques available for inference and diminish reliance on unverifiable assumptions. He also conducts surveillance research and contributes to the appropriate use of existing technologies and the development of novel laboratory testing methodologies. These advancements in biostatistical and laboratory methods facilitate additional screening and testing activities at a reduced cost, resulting in improved quality assurance, safety, and integrity of the national blood supply. He has been involved with many aspects of the Harvard-Muhimbili partnership, including teaching short courses and serving as an active mentor on other training grants.
Edward Ryan, M.D. is Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Disease at HSPH and Associate Professor of Medicine at HMS. His research focuses on understanding the interface between pathogenic bacteria and the human immune system, especially relating to development and use of vaccines in resource poor areas of the world. In collaborative efforts with researchers at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), he is using high throughput genomic, proteomic, and immunomic technologies to evaluate bacterial-host interactions during these human infections. Using this knowledge, our translational areas of research have particular attraction in resource-poor areas of the world.
Anuraj Shankar, Sc.D. is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Nutrition at HSPH. Dr. Shankar has extensive experience as a principal investigator in international maternal, newborn and child health research examining effects of interventions on morbidity, mortality and cognitive outcomes. He has conducted multiple field trials examining the effects of nutrition on immunity and resistance to infectious diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria. He is a founder of the Quality of Care for Pregnancy and Childbirth Collaborative and has contributed extensively to the global Countdown to 2015 initiative to monitor progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. In the current Training Program, Dr. Shankar was an instructor for several of the short courses, including developing the curriculum for the manuscript writing course. Dr. Shankar will continue to provide mentorship to students, particularly in career development.
Donna Spiegelman, Sc.D. is Professor of Epidemiologic Methods in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at HSPH. Her research is focused on developing statistical methods for the design and analysis of epidemiologic studies, in order to produce unbiased, efficient point and interval effect estimates, and minimize the extent of measurement error and misclassification of nutritional, occupational, and environment determinants of health outcomes. Dr. Spiegelman is the senior statistician on several randomized clinical trials in Tanzania investigating infectious diseases among adults and children. She was the mentor for two of the trainees under the current GID Training Program.
Marianne Wessling-Resnick, Ph.D., is a Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry in the Departments of Nutrition and Molecular Metabolism at HSPH. She is the Faculty Director for the Harvard PhD Program in Biological Sciences in Public Health. Dr. Wessling-Resnick is also the Chair of the National Institutes of Health Integrative Nutrition and Metabolic Processes Scientific Review Committee. She focuses on genetic disorders of iron metabolism at the molecular level and their implications in complex disease. More recently, her studies have focused on the influence of iron deficiency and overload in the absorption of inhaled metals. She has played an important role in HSPH’s educational programs for many years and has been the program director for three major training: NIH Roadmap T90 and R90 awards, and a NIEH/NHGRI-sponsored T32 grant supporting Interdisciplinary Training in Genes and the Environment.
George Whitesides, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Professor Whitesides and his group work in four areas: biochemistry, materials science, catalysis and physical organic chemistry. He works to invent a future where medical diagnosis can be done by anyone for little or no cost. He’s co-founded a nonprofit called Diagnostics for All that aims to provide dirt-cheap diagnostic devices, to provide healthcare in a world where cost is everything. Among his solutions is a low-cost “lab-on-a-chip,” made of paper and carpet tape. The paper wicks bodily fluids — urine, for example — and turns color to provide diagnostic information, such as how much glucose or protein is present. His goal is to distribute these simple paper diagnostic systems to developing countries, where people with basic training can administer tests and send results to distant doctors via cameraphone. He has co-authored over 950 scientific articles, co-founded more than 12 companies and produced over 50 patents.
Tanzania Faculty
Said Aboud, M.D., M.Phil., M.Med., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at MUHAS. Dr. Aboud worked as the Laboratory Manager of the Harvard Muhimbili Partnership Research Laboratory at MUHAS for three years, and was instrumental in developing QA/QC standardized operating procedures for laboratory assays and protocols for several large-scale clinical trials. He has extensive experience in numerous pediatric morbidity and mortality studies, including a randomized trial investigating the effect of multivitamins on pediatric morbidity and mortality among children of HIV-infected women, and a study investigating the effect of multivitamin supplements on immunological and clinical responses to tuberculosis among children. He is currently the Co-Investigator on the HSPH Tanzania HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Unit study. Professor Aboud served as the MUHAS faculty mentor to three of the trainees in the current GID training program.
Maulidi Fataki, M.D., M.Med., M.P.H. is Lecturer in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at MUHAS. He is the Principal Investigator of a study investigating the effects of zinc supplementation on disease severity among children hospitalized for acute pneumonia. Dr. Fataki is also actively involved in a study examining the effects of multivitamin supplements on clinical and immunological response to tuberculosis disease among children. He has worked on two multi-site HIV Prevention Trials Network clinical trials, including a study investigating the effects of antibiotics on chorioamnionitis-related mother-to-child transmission of HIV and a new trial evaluating efficacy and safety of an extended nevirapine regimen on the prevention of breastfeeding HIV transmission among infants born to HIV-infected women. Dr. Fataki served as the MUHAS faculty mentor to two of the trainees in the current GID training program.
Roderick Kisenge, M.D., Ph.D., is a Pediatrician and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at MUHAS. In addition to his clinical work and teaching responsibilities, he is actively involved in pediatrics and child health research. He has been involved in the MUHAS-Harvard research collaboration since 2006. Dr. Kisenge was a postdoctoral fellow at HSPH under the current GID training program, working with Dr. Duggan as his mentor. He has published a number of papers with HSPH faculty as a result of their collaboration.
Germana Leyna, MBBS, Ph.D., is a Lecturer in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, MUHAS. In this capacity, she has supervises students through the research cycle at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. She is currently the coordinator for a nutrition field project where students develop a nutrition related research proposal and carry it out in various rural areas of Tanzania. She has supervised several master students in their dissertations, of which some have ended up with publications. During her postdoctoral research fellowship at HSPH, Dr. Leyna focused on strengthening her nutritional epidemiology. She worked with Dr. Duggan during her fellowship and remains involved in a number of the active studies that Dr. Duggan and Dr. Fawzi lead in Tanzania.
Honorati Masanja, Ph.D., is a Statistician/Research Scientist and Head of the Data Analysis Cluster at IHI. He has extensive experience in data management and analysis of clinical trials and in evaluation of large maternal and child health effectiveness programs. He also lectures at the University of Dar es Salaam in health information modules and supervises students during their MSc and doctoral dissertations. Dr. Masanja has published extensively in internationally renowned journals. He led the establishment of the Rufiji Health and Demographic Surveillance System (RHDSS). The RHDSS documents vital events including pregnancy follow-up, births, deaths and migration in a population of 80,000 people. He is also lead investigator in monitoring and evaluation at 2 other large demographic sites in Ifakara and Kigoma, with a total of about an additional 300,000 people. He served as the IHI faculty mentor to one of the trainees in the current Training Program.
Elia John Mmbaga, M.D., Ph.D., MPhil, is aLecturer in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at MUHAS. He is involved in undergraduate and graduate medical students training in epidemiological and research methods and also supervises students in their trainings and dissertation work. Additionally he coordinates the Community Medicine rotation for the year four medical students that aim at impacting research skills and an understanding of the Tanzanian health system and management. He is a member of the Board of the School of Medicine at MUHAS. His research interests relate to reproductive health, dynamics of the spread of infectious diseases, and behavioural interventions for prevention of infectious diseases. Dr. Mmbaga is currently a Global Health Scholar at Harvard. He recently submitted a R01 proposal with Dr. Spiegelman that is under review. He is working with Dr. Pagano on a proposal on schistosomiasis. He is also a drafting a manuscript based on a pilot study conducted in Tanzania.
Ferdinand Mugusi, M.D., M.Med., is Professor in Internal Medicine at MUHAS. He has extensive clinical and research experience in infectious diseases, particularly tuberculosis and HIV. He has been a Principal Investigator for several Harvard-MUHAS research, hospital-based, and community-based studies investigating the epidemiology of tuberculosis infections in Tanzania, including the ICIDR trial investigating the role of micronutrients in tuberculosis and HIV infections. Dr. Mugusi has been involved in many training programs including Fogarty Scholars, and is currently the Principal Investigator for the International, Clinical, Operational and Health system Research training Award (ICOHRTA). Dr. Mugusi served as the MUHAS faculty mentor to two of the trainees in the current GID training program.
David P. Urassa, M.D., M.T.H., M.P.H.C, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer, in Community Health and the Dean, School of Public Health and Social Sciences at MUHAS. Dr. Urassa has a long standing relationship with Muhimbili University, which began nearly two decades ago. Dr. Urassa’s main area of interest is research and training related to healthcare management in developing countries. He has done detailed quantitative and qualitative assessments of factors contributing to the high burden of maternal and child mortality in Dar es Salaam, and is active in operations research in clinical and community-based settings.
