Dr. Denton leads a research team in the Denton Laboratory, with a primary focus on developing small-molecule probes for members of the inward rectifier family of potassium (Kir) channels, which play key physiological roles in cardiac, neuronal, endocrine, and epithelial cell function. An emerging body of genetic evidence suggests that certain members of the Kir channel family represent novel drug targets for hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, secretory diarrhea and pain.

The Denton Laboratory works closely with researchers in Vanderbilt's High-throughput Screening Center for GPCRs, Ion Channels and Transporters, and the Center for Accelerated Probe Development to deploy a National Institutes of Health-funded drug discovery campaign directed toward the founding member of the Kir channel family and putative diuretic target Kir1.1. This work is expected to provide critically needed pharmacological tools with which to probe the structure, integrative physiology, and therapeutic potential of clinically important inward rectifying potassium channels.

Education
PhD, Dartmouth Medical School 
MS, BS, University of Central Arkansas

Global Health Research Interests: Biological Sciences, Biomedical Ethics, COVID, Education and Training (Capacity Building), Global Health Policy, Global Health Systems/Delivery, HIV/AIDS, Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Medical Education, Pathology, Public Health

Countries: Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia

Quentin Eichbaum was born and raised in Namibia and South Africa. He initially studied law at the University of Cape Town. Then he completed his MD, MPH, PhD/postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his residency and fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. He is currently a professor of pathology, microbiology, and immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and medical education and administration at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.  He serves on numerous national and international clinical, global health, education, and health humanities committees and boards.  He chairs the AABB Global Transfusion Forum (GTF),  the AABB Global Standards Committee, and the International Affairs Committee at ASFA. He is on the Board of Directors of CUGH and has chaired its Education Committee, Global Workforce Committee, and Global Health Humanities working group. He co-founded and serves on the Executive Committee of CONSAMS (Consortium of New Sub-Saharan Africa Medical Schools). He serves on the Education Committee of the FAIMER/ECFMG Board of Trustees.  He is the Medical Co-Director of Transfusion Medicine at VUMC, Director of the VUMC Transfusion Medicine Fellowship Program, Director of the Vanderbilt Pathology Program in Global Health, and Medical Director of the VA Tennessee Valley Health Care System Blood Bank.

Education

MD, MPH, Harvard School of Public Health
PhD, University of Cape Town, South Africa
MMHC, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University
MFA, Vermont College

Global Health Research Interests: Biological Sciences, Cardiology, Heart Disease and Stroke, Clinical Trials, Education and Training (Capacity Building), Heart Disease and Stroke, HIV/AIDS, Immunology, Nephrology, Nutrition

Countries: Uganda, Zambia

Global Health Research Interests: Community Health, Maternal and Child Health, Nutrition, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Public Health

Countries: Guyana, Kenya

Dr. Lindsey Zamora has had a longstanding interest in global health and cultural studies, beginning even before she entered the field of medicine. She earned her undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Florida, where she had the opportunity to study abroad in Tanzania and Brazil. Following this, she completed medical school and residency training at the University of Florida and Baylor College of Medicine. During her time in medical school, she led a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, providing healthcare in rural areas of the country. While in residency, she participated in a rotation in Zambia, collaborating with midwives and leading workshops on safe delivery practices.

After completing her residency, Dr. Zamora pursued a Global Women’s Health fellowship through University Hospitals/Case Medical Center, in partnership with the University of Guyana and Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. During her fellowship, she played a key role in establishing Guyana’s first ObGyn training program, which was aimed at training local specialists and leaders in obstetrics and gynecology to reduce the country’s maternal mortality rate. Dr. Zamora lived in Guyana for two years during this fellowship and was instrumental in graduating the country’s first specialists in ObGyn. Following her fellowship, she returned to the United States, where she served as an Assistant Residency Program Director while also earning her Master of Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Since joining the faculty at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Zamora has taken on the role of Head of the ObGyn Section for Global Women’s Health and serves as the lead for the residency’s distinction pathway in Global and Community Health. She is also the co-director of the Vanderbilt Collaborative for Global Health Excellence, a multidisciplinary program designed to equip postgraduate learners with essential skills for global health work. Additionally, she acts as a faculty liaison between the ObGyn department and Siloam Health, a community health center in Nashville that serves the local refugee population. Dr. Zamora’s global health interests include reducing maternal mortality, promoting global health education, building capacity in low- and middle-income countries, and providing care for immigrant and refugee populations.

Education

MD, University of Florida
MPH, London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Dr. Joseline (Josie) Haizel-Cobbina is the Program Manager at the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health. She works with Dr Michael C. Dewan and the Vanderbilt Global Neurosurgery Program (VGNP). Prior to joining VIGH, she worked as an International Health Fellow with Minnesota Department of Health, where she worked on the CDC’s Malaria Prevention Project to reduce the incidence of imported malaria cases among the immigrant and refugee population in Minnesota.

Originally from Ghana, Josie received her bachelor’s degree in Human Biology and her medical degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2015. She worked as a medical officer in low-resource settings for three years before moving to the United States. She obtained her master's degree in Public Health Administration and Policy in 2020. Josie’s clinical and public health interests are in neurosurgery which well align with her work as the Program Manager for the VGNP.

Global Health Research Interests: Clinical Trials, Community Health, COVID, Global Health Policy, Global Health Systems/Delivery, Health Policy, HIV/AIDS, Infectious Diseases, Public Health, Tuberculosis (TB)

Countries: Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, United States

Prof Churchyard (MBBCh), MMED (Int Med), FCP (SA), FRCP (Edin), PhD) is a specialist physician internationally renowned for his contributions to tuberculosis (TB) research. Prof Churchyard is the founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of the Aurum Institute, an independent, not-for-profit, proudly South African, public benefit organization focusing on TB and HIV technical assistance, service delivery, and research. Prof Churchyard is an Honorary Professor at the University of Witwatersrand, the University of Cape Town, and the Department of Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Prof Churchyard is the Chair of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Transformative Science Group for TB, Chair of the NIH/DIADS funded Cross-network TB vaccine and Immunology Working Group, and a member of the ACTG Scientific Advisory Steering Committee (SASC). He has extensive clinical trial experience and has conducted numerous TB treatments, TB vaccines, TB preventive therapies, TB diagnostics, and Host Directed Therapy for TB trials. Prof Churchyard's investigator-initiated studies have involved large, multisite, and often complex studies in South Africa and internationally. Prof Churchyard has published widely in the fields of TB and HIV.

The Aurum Institute
Parktown, South Africa

Global Health Research Interests: HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB)

Country: Mozambique

The Aurum Institute
Parktown, South Africa