GHANA
Akua Forson, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Forson will spend her fellowship year at University of Ghana in Accra, Ghana under the mentorship of Prof. Yaw Asare Afrane, PhD, Dr. Ivy Hurwitz, PhD, and Professor Douglas J. Perkins. Her research will focus on determining and exploiting the microbial assemblages of Anopheles mosquitoes breeding habitats for vector control.
Dr. Forson is a Senior Lecturer at University of Ghana. Her long-term career goals are to achieve excellence in health research in Africa through undertaking research that can be translated into policy within the next 10 years. She aims to do this by publication of high-quality research in the topics of medical entomology and public health, and training of postgraduate students. Her research career is focused on epidemiology and vector-borne diseases through the use of cutting-edge scientific research that addresses global challenges facing developing countries. As a faculty member of the University of Ghana, she has mentored several MSc and BSc students.
Leah Ratner, MS, MD, DTM&H
US Fellow
Dr. Ratner will spend her fellowship year at the University of Ghana, in Accra, Ghana, under the mentorship of Dr. John Adabie Appiah, MBChB, MWACP, MGCPS, Cert. Crit. Care, MPhil Crit. Care (UCT), Dr. Rebecca Elaine Cagnina MD, PhD, and Dr. Ama Fenny, PhD and Mr. Evans Otieku. Her research will focus on context-driven education and sepsis bundles for improved identification and management of pediatric sepsis in Ghana.
Dr. Ratner is an Attending Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, and a Clinical Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ratner hopes to continue to refine her research activities to focus on equity-based research for cystic fibrosis in Africa as well as other contextually-derived solutions for pulmonary and critical care diseases in similar contexts. She is passionate about decolonized practices in this space and hopes to continue working on collaborative and integrated care practices with culturally and contextually derived solutions for adolescents and young adults with chronic diseases. Dr. Ratner’s teammates in Ghana, with whom she has been collaborating for many years, continue to inspire her and push her to think about things differently. Additionally, they have a lot of fun working together. Dr. Ratner is inspired by her family and her own cultural influences to continue to practice social justice, both locally and abroad.
KENYA
Edwin Kanda, MS, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Kanda will spend his fellowship year at Maseno University and School of Medicine, in Kisumu, Kenya under the mentorship of Dr. Douglas J. Perkins, PhD, and Dr. Evans Raballah, PhD. His research will focus on the purification systems for water and wastewater for the removal of antibiotics using locally available materials in Western Kenya.
Dr. Kanda is an early career researcher at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology. He is passionate about water, sanitation, hygiene, and its relationship to public health. He is a civil engineer by training and his postgraduate studies revolved around water and environmental engineering. His research interests are focused on emerging contaminants of environmental concern such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products.
Sabella Kiprono, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Kiprono will spend her fellowship year at Maseno University and School of Medicine, in Kisumu, Kenya under the mentorship of Dr. Collins Ouma, PhD, Dr. Douglas J. Perkins, PhD, and Dr. Evans Raballah, PhD. Her research will focus on the use of encapsulated probiotics for the delivery of bioactive antioxidants from kale (brassica oleracea L. var acephala).
Dr. Kiprono is a Lecturer in the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology. Her goal as a global health researcher is to improve health outcomes around the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Kiprono’s career aspiration is to be a professional scientist in global health. Global health has been her interest since childhood when she enrolled in a B.Ed (Science) program, majoring in Biology and Chemistry. This study ignited her interest in how microorganisms cause diseases and it has driven her passion to study and conduct research in Microbiology.
MALI
Aboubacar Alassane Oumar, PharmD, MSc, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Oumar will spend his fellowship year at University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako (USTTB) in Bamako, Mali under the mentorship of Dr. Bassirou Diarra, MD, PhD, Dr. Mamoudou Maiga, MD, PhD, and Dr. Best Brookie, PharmD, MAS. His research will focus on evaluation of Dolutegravir (DTG) concentrations in breast milk and infant’s plasma in Mali.
Dr. Oumar is an Assistant Professor at University of Sciences, Techniques, and Technologies of Bamako. His research interests are mainly in the areas of clinical pharmacology, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacokinetics. Since 2019, Dr. Oumar has joined the Laboratory of the university Hospital of Kati where he is conducting the evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine-related adverse events and the dynamics of anti-SARSCOV2 antibodies. In other research, he is working on the evaluation of the adverse events during antimalarial seasonal prevention. In addition, he worked as pharmacist investigator at the University Clinical Research Center (UCRC) for the dolutegravir and darunavir evaluation in adults failing therapy clinical trial. Dr. Oumar is excited about his Fogarty Fellowship and looks forward to the new opportunities this period in his career will bring.
NIGERIA
Elizabeth Abe, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Abe will spend her fellowship year at University of Ibadan, University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria under the mentorship of Dr. Claudia Hawkins, MD, MPH and Dr. Adesola Ogunniyi, MD, FAS. Her research will focus on comparative analysis of oral microbiome, salivary antimicrobial proteins, and cytokines between HIV-infected and uninfected adults in Southwest Nigeria.
Dr. Abe is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Ibadan. She was awarded a Masters degree in Dental Surgery in 2014. She had her residency training at the University College Hospital, Ibadan; she was awarded a fellowship in Oral Medicine in June 2021 by the West African College of Surgeons. Currently, she is running her PhD program (Oral Medicine) at the University of Ibadan. She joined the department of Oral Pathology as an associate lecturer in July 2021 and later got a full employment as a Lecturer I in January, 2023.
Tolulope Afolaranmi, MBBS, MSc
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Afolaranmi will spend his fellowship year at University of Jos and Jos University teaching Hospital in Jos, Nigeria under the mentorship of Dr. Ayuba I Zoakah, MBBS, FWACP, FRSPH and Phyllis J Kanki, DVM, DSc. His research will focus on use of photovoice intervention for stigma reduction among HIV infected young men who have sex with men in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
Dr. Afolaranmi is an Associate Professor in community medicine at University of Jos and Jos University Teaching Hospital. His goal is to become an established collaborative researcher with the ability to tackle public health problems in Nigeria and beyond, but more importantly among the MSM population. Additionally, he aims to become equipped with the skills and knowledge to build capacity locally in his institution and beyond through effective mentoring and knowledge sharing. He is a focused and goal driven medical doctor, lecturer and researcher with postgraduate trainings in Community Medicine, Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is passionate about making positive change which has stimulated his involvement in research on a range of issues spanning HIV, patient-centered care, and improving health systems, with particular attention to the social determinants of health outcomes and behaviors for over a decade.
Yewande Babalola, MBBS
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Babalola will spend her fellowship year at University of Ibadan/University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria under the mentorship of Prof Adesola Ogunniyi, MBChB, Dr Holly Rawizza, MD, MPH, Prof Adeyinka Ashaye, MBBS, MSc, Prof Tunji Oluleye, MBChB, and Prof Bolutife Olusanya, MBBS, MSc, PhD. Her research will focus on visual function, vision-related quality of life and Human Immunodeficiency Virus related neuroretinal disorder (HIV-NRD) in an African subpopulation in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Dr. Babalola is an ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon. She is focused on becoming a seasoned researcher in the retina and vitreous subspecialty with emphasis on communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS and non-communicable diseases with regards to global health. The interrelation of genetics, peculiar characteristics, risk factors and presentation of these diseases in her population is key to understanding these diseases. As a lecturer at the University of Ibadan and a consultant ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon at the University College Hospital she strives to be an attentive teacher and researcher leaving positive footprints in research and providing excellent care to retinal patients. She has experienced first-hand the relevance of evidence-based clinical practice and strives to make significant scientific contributions in vitreoretinal diseases.
Nanma Cosmas, MSc, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Cosmas will spend her fellowship year at University of Jos in Jos, Nigeria under the mentorship of Jonah Musa, MBBS, PhD, FWACS, MD and Chad Achenbach, MD, MPH. Her research will focus on persistent high-risk HPV infection, sexually transmitted infections and E6/E7 mRNA expression among HIV positive women with pre-cervical cancer in Jos, Nigeria.
Dr. Cosmas is a lecturer in medical microbiology at University of Jos. Her goals are to become a mentor with high integrity in teaching and sustainable collaborative research, as well as an independent investigator studying the prevention of HPV infection and cervical cancer by examining interactions between HPV, STIs, and the genital microbiome in cervical cancer progression among high-risk populations in Nigeria. She is greatly influenced by the need to acquire new research skills that will prepare her to take up the role of a mentor to the students in her department and the wider university community.
PERU
Sushmita Sridhar, PhD
US Fellow
Dr. Sridhar will spend her fellowship year at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru under the mentorship of Dr. Pablo Tsukayama, PhD and Dr. Daryl Domman, PhD. Her research will focus on prevalence of antimicrobial resistance genes in sewage water from Peruvian urban centers.
Dr. Sridhar is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of New Mexico. She is interested in using genomics for pathogen surveillance in low-resource settings to ultimately help lower the burden of infectious disease. She intends to continue her work in the area of surveillance and capacity building to reduce the threat of drug resistant bacteria in high-risk settings. She is passionate about bacteria and understanding what makes them “tick” and how that comes into play (and conflict) with human hosts. To that end, she has spent her scientific career studying host-bacteria interactions, drug resistant bacteria, and more recently, the genomic epidemiology that underlies where and how drug-resistant bacteria pose as emerging threats.
Yina Quique Buitrago, MS, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Quique Buitrago will spend her fellowship year at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia under the mentorship of Dr. Patricia Garcia, PhD, Dr. Leora Cherney, PhD, Dr. Igor Koralnik, Dr. Maria Pesantes, Dr. Jaime Miranda and Dr. Oscar Aguilar. Her research will focus on aphasia rehabilitation in Peru and Colombia: usual care, barriers, and facilitators of best-practice.
Dr. Quique Buitrago is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University. Her programmatic research has focused on 1) developing culturally- and linguistically-specific aphasia interventions; and 2) improving the efficacy and accessibility of aphasia treatments. She is a clinician-scientist committed to improving rehabilitation outcomes and healthcare services for stroke survivors with aphasia. She is especially interested in developing culturally-sensitive and language-specific interventions for Spanish speakers with aphasia.
SOUTH AFRICA
Erinn Cameron, MA, PhD
US Fellow
Dr. Cameron will spend her fellowship year at the University of Cape Town, in Cape Town, South Africa under the mentorship of Dr. Ashraf Kagee, PhD, Dr. Jennifer Crawford, PhD, and Dr. Michelle Ozbun, PhD. Her research will focus on climate change and the mental health of pregnant women living with HIV in Western Cape, South Africa.
Dr. Cameron is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of New Mexico, School of Medicine. Her goals include establishing a strong publication record, building a network of collaboration and professional relationships, securing funding for research, and continuing to develop expertise in the area of climate change, mental health, and HIV. Dr. Cameon hopes to write a K grant during the fellowship year so that she can continue to develop and broaden her research skills. Dr. Cameron’s journey as a first-generation university student has contributed to her strength, resiliency, and ability to think on her feet in diverse settings. Professional service and leadership have been integral to her professional development and she is grateful to her mentors thus far.
Judie Magura, MSc, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Magura will spend her fellowship year at Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa under the mentorship of Prof Thumbi Ndung’u, BVM, PhD, Prof. Phyllis J Kanki, DVM, DSc, and Dr. Elise Landais, PhD. Her research will focus on characterization of the naïve B-cell repertoire and antigen specific B-cell precursors in a South African population to predict the success of germline-targeting HIV immunogens.
Dr. Magura is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI). Her career goals are to gain the relevant training needed to expand her scientific expertise and build productive scientific relationships with prominent scientists through structured and targeted mentorship. She aspires to grow toward independently asking and answering critical human immunology questions globally relevant for advancing the development of effective HIV-1 vaccines, particularly in Africa, and expanding this expertise to other infectious diseases. Having grown up in an impoverished community, her transition into adulthood involved volunteering in disadvantaged communities, which greatly influenced her early career. These experiences have driven her long-term aspirations to conduct research that is both translatable and has a tangible impact on the lives of ordinary people, especially those in disadvantaged communities.
Ramadhani Chambuso, MD, MPH, MSc, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Chambuso will spend his fellowship year at University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa under the mentorship of Dr. Raj Ramesar, PhD, Dr. Douglas Perkins, PhD, Dr. Xavier Llor, MD, PhD and Dr. Rosa Xicola, PhD. His research will focus on developing a scoring model with artificial intelligence for Lynch Syndrome screening and cascade testing.
Dr. Chambuso is a Research Scientist and Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Cape Town and his long-term career goal is to contribute to the development of innovative and non-invasive methods for detecting and preventing early-onset/hereditary/familial colorectal cancers. He is interested in using multi-omics panel of blood-based novel immunogenomic biomarkers, transcriptomics of circulating non-coding miRNAs, machine learning models, bioinformatics tools, Artificial Intelligence, and big data from available public databases such as the cBioPortal. His career path has been influenced by his interest in global health research, particularly in developing innovative screening methods for hereditary predisposition to cancer worldwide, such as Lynch syndrome. During his fellowship, Dr. Chambuso hopes to build on and expand his prior work, while engaging in career development activities and opportunities to become a mid-career researcher.
UGANDA
Catherine Atuhaire, MPH, PhD
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Atuhaire will spend her fellowship year at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Mbarara, Uganda under the mentorship of Dr. Vikram Patel, MBBS, MPH and Dr. Samuel Maling, MBChB, MMED, MPH. Her research will focus on perceived maternal social support and postpartum depression among women in public health facilities in South Western Uganda.
Dr. Atuhaire is a lecturer at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) with over 10 years teaching and research experience. Her research will focus on implementing a cohort project that seeks to explain maternal social support and postpartum depression in the Ugandan context. Through this fellowship, she hopes to obtain preliminary data to design an intervention that will reduce and/or mitigate the burden of maternal mental health and its complications in Uganda and SSA at large. Her long-term research goals involve becoming an independent researcher and an expert in postpartum depression in the field of maternal mental health. Dr. Atuhaire hopes to gain advanced research knowledge and skills, build strong research relationships for future collaborations, position herself to pursue research in a high-priority area for funding by the NIH, and prepare herself for the next phase of her research career where she hopes to submit a K43 grant application.
Felix Bongomin, MBChB, MSc, MMed
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Bongomin will spend his fellowship year at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Mbarara, Uganda under the mentorship of Dr. Conrad Muzoora, MBChB, MMed and Dr. Davidson H. Hamer, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FASTMH, FISTM. His research will focus on undiagnosed pulmonary aspergillosis as a fatal complication of advanced HIV disease in Uganda: an autopsy-based study.
Dr. Bongomin is a Lecturer at Gulu University Medical School, Uganda. His career goal is to become a prominent physician scientist specializing in translational clinical infectious diseases, leveraging his expertise as a medical doctor with training in internal medicine, and contribute to the advancement of medical knowledge and patient care in Uganda. Throughout his career, he has been influenced by his passion for infectious diseases and his training as a medical doctor specializing in internal medicine. Personally, he is driven by a desire to make a meaningful impact in the field of translational infectious diseases, aiming to become a leading physician scientist and contribute to medical knowledge and patient care in Uganda.
ZAMBIA
Jonathan Gwasupika, MBChB, MSc
LMIC Fellow
Dr. Gwasupika will spend his fellowship year at University of Zambia School of Public Health in Ndola, Zambia under the mentorship of Dr. Choolwe N Jacobs, PhD, MPH, BSc and Dr. Davidson H Hamer, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FASTMH, FISTM. His research will focus on the outcome of HIV infected children admitted with sepsis at Arthur Davison Children Hospital in Ndola, Zambia.
Dr. Gwasupika is a Scientific officer at the Tropical Diseases Research Centre. He has been involved in a number of clinical trials and observational studies as a co-investigator or sub-investigator and currently as a coordinating investigator in an on-going multicentre observational study on the epidemiology of severe and non-severe malaria in children. He has research interests in infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV with a particular interest in antimicrobial resistance. His goal is to become a proficient researcher and academic, as well as to understand and undertake different research designs. He is a team player and leader with an ability to influence change and offer solutions to teammates or workmates.
Megan Latoya Bartrum, MA, MS
US Scholar
Ms. Bartrum will spend her fellowship year at University of Zambia School of Public Health & Right to Care in Lusaka, Zambia under the mentorship of Dr. Ethan Zulu, MS, MBSC and Dr. Julie M. Herlihy, MD, MPH. Her research will focus on the Brain Boost project: motherhood, care, and neurodevelopment in peri-urban Zambia.
Ms. Bartrum is a Doctoral Candidate at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She is an anthropologist and population health scientist with a focus on poverty and health disparities. She wishes to serve in a global health organization as a scientist specializing in neurological support. She is passionate about social & environmental determinants of infectious diseases, vulnerable & emerging populations, and equity as global public health practice.