The Latest News from VIGH

Capacity Building Activities and New Curriculum Strengthen Medical Education in Liberia

After decades of civil unrest and the Ebola epidemic, Liberia's fragile health system is being strengthened through U.S.-Liberia partnerships focused on medical education and capacity building at the country's only medical school, A.M. Dogliotti (AMD) School of Medicine in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Liberia (ULCHS).

VIGH to partner with Yale University and University of Liberia on New Research and Teaching Center in Liberia

The Vanderbilt Institute of Global Health (VIGH) will join Yale University and the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences (ULCHS) to establish a public-private-academic hub for research utilization in the Liberian health sector and an academic network to strengthen Liberia’s education and health sectors as part of a five-year, $15 million federal project announced this week.

Vanderbilt Researchers Receive Award to Establish Research Ethics Education Program in Liberia

In collaboration with the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences (ULCHS), the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) will develop a one-year research ethics education program for members of four institutional review boards (IRBs) in Monrovia, Liberia.

Vanderbilt Researchers Receive Grant to Reinforce Institutional Capacity for the Conduct of Research at University Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) in Mozambique

Working in collaboration with faculty from UEM, the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) will work to build UEM’s institutional research capacity with support from the NIH Fogarty International Center (FIC).

Community-led health model improves maternal and child health outcomes in Kenya

In partnership with Lwala Community Alliance (Lwala), VIGH faculty member Troy Moon, M.D., MPH, provided mentorship to Vanderbilt medical student Sarah Heerboth to conduct a study assessing the level of knowledge of obstetric and neonatal danger signs among Community Health Workers (CHW) in rural western Kenya. Lwala centers on a community led health model, transforming traditional birth attendants into CHWs.

VIGH awarded $3 million for building research capacity in Nigeria and Mozambique

Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) has received a new research training grant and a renewal for an existing training program from the Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to build HIV-focused research capacity with key partners in Nigeria and Mozambique. One of the $1.5 million grants will establish The Vanderbilt-Nigeria Building Research Capacity in HIV/Non-communicable Diseases (V-BRCH) Program to build capacity of Nigerian investigators to successfully initiate and implement high-quality clinical trials in HIV-associated non-communicable diseases.

VIGH receives grant to build research capacity in Sierra Leone

The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) has been awarded a five-year, $1.2 million federal grant from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health to evaluate and build a research capacity program in implementation science and clinical trial management to address Ebola, Lassa fever and other viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) in Sierra Leone. The Partnership for Research in Emerging Viral Infections-Sierra Leone (PREVSL) will address gaps and improve existing research capacity at in-country partner institutions. 

VIGH receives renewal to expand research ethics in Mozambique

Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) has been awarded a five-year, $1.2 million renewal of its Mozambique Collaborative Research Ethics Education Program supported by the Fogarty International Center of the NIH. In Portuguese, the Formação Colaborativa em Etica na Pesquisa or FoCEP Program is tailored to Portuguese speaking Africa.

Dr. Dahn Visits Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt welcomed Dr. Bernice Dahn, Vice President for Health Sciences at the University of Liberia and former Minister of Health for Liberia, to campus on April 17. Dr. Dahn delivered a guest lecture entitled, "Building Health Systems: Lessons From Crisis." Drawing on her experience leading a country through and after an Ebola epidemic, she shared powerful lessons on the re-establishment of the Ministry of Health and the rebuilding of Liberia’s health care delivery system.  

Education and Training Symposium Draws Faculty from Portuguese-Speaking African (PALOP) Countries to Vanderbilt

Last month, the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) hosted a global health education and training symposium for faculty representatives from faculties of medicine of Portuguese-speaking African (PALOP) countries. Faculty from universities located in three of the six PALOP countries attended as well as an affiliated faculty member from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.  

VIGH receives award for research training program in Ebola-affected countries

​To help the countries most affected by the recent Ebola epidemic, Fogarty has launched a new program to strengthen research training in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In the first round of funding, four U.S. institutions received grants to partner with academic centers in two of the West African countries. The support will enable them to design training programs to increase expertise in Ebola, Lassa fever and other emerging viral diseases.

Moon and Heimburger receive 2016 Excellence in Teaching Award

Every year since 2000, the VUMC Academic Enterprise has honored faculty members for Excellence in Teaching and Outstanding Contributions to Research. Recipients were nominated by their faculty colleagues and chosen by the 2016 VUMC Academic Enterprise Faculty Awards Selection Committees.This year both Douglas C. Heimburger, M.D., M.S. and D. Troy Moon, M.D., M.P.H.received the Jacek Hawiger Award for Teaching Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows in the Classroom, Lecture or Small Group Setting.

Grant bolsters biomedical ethics efforts in Mozambique

Vanderbilt University researchers have received a five-year, $1.2 million grant from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to strengthen research ethics capacity in Mozambique.

New grant extends HIV/AIDS efforts in Mozambique

Vanderbilt University has recently received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for more than $7 million to extend HIV/AIDS training, treatment and care in the rural province of Zambézia in Mozambique.
 
 The grant, entitled "Avante Zambézia," Portuguese for "Move Forward Zambézia,"  will continue HIV/AIDS efforts from 2007 initiated with funding from a prior CDC grant. The President's Emergency Plan for AID Relief (PEPFAR) funded both grants.