Research Training on HIV Prevention and Treatment in Children and Adolescents (UO

ABSTRACT Adolescent girls and young women represent the fastest growing population of persons living with HIV in Kenya, contributing nearly 40% of new HIV infections. This pattern jeopardizes efforts to address HIV in infants and contributes to the sustained epidemic of pediatric HIV. Kenya had impressive gains in preventing vertical HIV transmission in the early years of the epidemic, however these gains have been reversed in recent years and Kenya’s current vertical HIV transmission rate of >8% is unacceptably high. In Kenya, clinician-scientists played a major role in anchoring the early HIV response yet there are limited opportunities for career development in Kenya for individuals with a clinical background who wish to continue in clinical practice and teaching while building a research career in an academic setting. The majority of successful Kenyan clinician-scientists have been trained overseas, highlighting the need to develop and scale-up research-oriented training programs in Kenya. This application therefore seeks to strengthen the research training opportunities in Kenya for clinicians who want to develop careers as independent researchers through the proposed program, “Research Training on HIV Prevention and Treatment in Children and Adolescents.” The program will be led by Drs. Dalton Wamalwa and Ruth Nduati at the University of Nairobi (UoN) and co-directed with Dr. Carey Farquhar at University of Washington (UW), Bernard Awuonda at Maseno University (MU) and Kenneth Ngure at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). The program will offer long-term training which includes doctoral-level training in Epidemiology (5 trainees) and in Biostatistics (1 trainee) at UoN (3-4 years) and master’s level training in biostatistics (1 trainee) in Seattle (1.5 years). The program will also offer a 15-week synchronous online Advanced Certificate in Research to clinicians at UoN, MU and JKUAT (doctors, nurses and pharmacists) in master’s programs with an interest in pediatric and adolescent HIV (75 per year, 300 total), as well as a combination of in-person advanced short courses and workshops conducted in collaboration with partner institutions. The Principal Investigators have substantial experience with Fogarty training programs and other training programs based in Kenya. They will work closely with members of a Steering Committee with representatives from all 4 institutions and an external Training Advisory Committee (TAC) to ensure success of each trainee and the overall program. Together, all the partners and the extensive network of faculty will work towards a goal of strengthening evidence-based approaches to prevent and treat pediatric and adolescent HIV and conduct locally relevant research in Kenya.