RESEARCH METHODS CERTIFICATE COURSE

Description

Research Methods Certificate Training

Objectives

Presenters

1. Dr. James Ayieko
   Dr. Ayieko is a medical doctor who holds an MPH from University of California, Berkeley and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. James’ career over the last decade has centered around HIV care and ways of improving treatment outcomes in low resource settings. His area of interest has been improving treatment outcomes by optimizing the HIV care cascade right from linkage of HIV infected individuals to care, retention and viral suppression. He has participated in designing, implementation and evaluation of various interventions aimed at improving care engagement among people living with HIV in rural Uganda and Kenya. Currently he works with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) as a research scientist and is an investigator in the SEARCH SAPPHIRE HIV treatment and Prevention trial as well as the SEARCH Youth trial.
   KEMRI RCTP


2. Dr. Patrick Oyaro
   Dr. Oyaro is the chief of party of USAID Stawisha Pwani project supporting HIV, TB and reproductive health, maternal, neonatal and child health (RMNCAH) services in four coastal counties and the acting Chief Executive Officer of Health Innovations Kenya (formerly Research Care and Training Program - Family AIDS Care and Education Services (RCTP-FACES)), a nongovernmental organization supporting healthcare research and training in Kenya. Previously he served as the Director of FACES, which is a PEPFAR funded collaborative between University of California, San Francisco and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Patrick who is a medical doctor and public health specialist has over seventeen years of experience in HIV clinical care and program management. He has been a co-investigator on several studies on HIV prevention and treatment in Kenya. He recently graduated from the University of Washington (UW) MPH program courtesy of the International AIDS Research and Training Program (IARTP), a KEMRI - UW collaborative program and is currently a PhD student in Implementation Science at the University of Nairobi.
   KEMRI RCTP


3. Prof. Videlis Nduba
   Prof. Nduba leads two clinical trial units at the Centre for Respiratory Diseases Research (CRDR) KEMRI and has 22 years’ experience conducting clinical trials in Tuberculosis vaccine and drug trials. In addition, he has an interest in sickle cell disease where he has conducted drug trials examining reducing painful crises in infants and young adults. He also serves as principal investigator on TB aerobiology studies funded by the NIH in collaboration with the University of Washington. He is also co-PI on a D43 training grant that hopes to train Kenyan researchers on TB/HIV. He has previously worked in Malaria/HIV trials.
   KEMRI


4. Dr. Serah Gitome
   Dr. Serah Gitome, MBChB (UoN), MPH (UC Berkeley), is a clinical research scientist and Acting deputy director of the Sexual Reproductive Adolescent and Child Health (SRACH) Program at KEMRI. She is a highly skilled multi-dimensional researcher with 15+ years of experience in conducting sexual and reproductive health research in Kenya. She collaborates with local, regional and international researchers to expand HIV prevention and reproductive health options for women and reproductive-age couples. Dr. Gitome is passionate about getting to the root cause of complex reproductive health challenges and blending clinical, behavioral and economic interventions to generate multi-faceted solutions that impact people's lives. Through several co- and independently-funded research projects, she was part of the group that led early clinical trials on the now approved Dapivirine microbicide ring, pioneered early research that culminated in the registration of the first efficacious vaginal microbicide product in Kenya, drove greater involvement of men in female-oriented reproductive health options, tested safer conception strategies for HIV sero-different couples, explored novel channels for offering self-care contraceptives using human centered design approaches and more recently, she is researching on how to optimize the vaginal microbiome for long-term prevention and treatment of bacterial vaginosis and sexually transmitted infections in Africa. Dr. Gitome is a member of the KEMRI Scientific and Ethics Review Committee since 2012.
   KEMRI


5. Dr. Zachary Kwena
   Dr. Kwena is a Lead Social Scientist at Kenya Medical Research Institute’s Center for Microbiology Research since 2002. He is also the immediate former Science Coordinator of the Lake Victoria Consortium for Health Research (LVCHR), aiming to improve access to health care and other social services through research and implementation of resultant interventions. Dr. Kwena received his training in Medical Geography at Kenyatta University, where he graduated with a Ph.D. in 2014. This was followed by a 2-year post-doctoral training fellowship from 2015-2016 and several other fellowships, including the University of California Global Health Institute (GloCal) and African Research Excellence Fund (AREF). He has published numerous scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals (see a complete list of publications at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1hWEeno5qfvQa/bibliography/48322381/public/? sort=date&direction=ascending).Dr. Kwena has extensive experience in the design and management of formative qualitative studies and intervention trials. He has collaborated with many local and international investigators on various intervention projects that target HIV prevention in high-risk groups in fishing communities. His research interest is in HIV program evaluations and HIV prevention with a bias towards understanding sexual risks and networks among heterosexual couples and adolescent girls, and young women. He was the winner of the 2018 International AIDS Society Women and Girls Cash Award for his outstanding work on barriers to retention in HIV care among adolescent girls and young women.
   KEMRI RCPT


6. Mr. Benard Samba
   Mr. Samba, MS is a Senior Biostatistician at Main Analytics GmbH with over 7 years’ experience. His work involves producing statistical outputs (Tables, Figures, and Listings) using different statistical methods, programming datasets in required formats, and capacity building. Previously, he worked at the Kenya Medical Research Institute within the Family Aids Care and Education Services (FACES) programme. He was involved with the analysis of routine program data, providing statistical advice, designing data collection tools, conducting data quality audits, and assisting with the development of abstracts and publications. He obtained his Master degree in Applied Statistics from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya. His thesis was entitled “Relationship between urbanization and precipitation in Kisumu City: Co- integration analysis”. Between September and December 2018, he pursued a Global Health course at the University of Washington (UW) for his IARTP non-degree training. During his time at UW, he worked on a project called “Effect of Test and Treat Policy on Retention, Adherence and Viral load suppression of HIV + adolescents in care”. He has a wide range of experience in statistical methodology, data analysis, and sample size calculation. He also possesses skills in data collection tools like ODK, Kobo Collect, and REDCap, and data analysis software like STATA, SPSS, R and SAS. He understands CDISC standards having worked in the Pharma industry for over 4 years. His research interests include maternal and child health, retention and adherence of HIV + patients in care, partner notification services as an identification strategy, Opportunistic Infections among HIV + individuals, and Pre- Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Mr. Samba is currently pursuing his PhD in Applied Statistics at JKUAT. His hobbies include; working out, cycling, hiking, and playing soccer. He is a team player, and a self-driven individual with keen attention to detail and an eye for quality and excellence.
   KEMRI/RCTP


7. Prof. Walter Jaoko
   Prof. Jaoko is a Physician, and Professor of Medical Microbiology and Tropical Medicine, and Director of KAVI-Institute of Clinical Research, at the University of Nairobi. He has since 2017 been an Extraordinary Professor of Medicine at Stellenbosch University at the Centre for Bioethics and Law in the Department of Medicine. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in medicine and a PhD in medical microbiology from University of Nairobi, a Master’s degree in tropical medicine from Liverpool University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Ethics from Stellenbosch University and a Masters degree in Global Bioethics from Anahuac University. He has conducted clinical research in various aspects of infectious diseases transmission, treatment and control, and published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He also has a keen interest in health research ethics and the promotion of ethical standards in the conduct of health research in developing countries. In this regard, he has through grants from the Canadian Centre for Global Health Research and European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) facilitated research ethics training in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Botswana. He is also a member of several organizations including the research ethics committee of Strathmore University, WHO Research Ethics Committee, the Belgian Red Cross Scientific Advisory Committee, among others, and a Fellow of the Africa Academy of Sciences.
   UoN/KAVI


8. Prof. Elizabeth Bukusi
   Prof. Bukusi (ObGyn), MPH, PhD, PGD (Research Ethics), Masters in Bioethics, Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, earned her general medical degree and Masters in Obstetrics and Gynaecology degree from the University of Nairobi. She then earned a certificate in international health, MPH and a PhD from the University of Washington’s Department of Epidemiology, a post graduate diploma in Research Ethics from the University of Cape Town and a Masters in Bioethics from Centre for Bioethics and Culture at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation in Karachi. She is a certified IRB Professional. She is a Senior Principal Clinical Research Scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), a Research Professor at the University of Washington (Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Global health), an honorary lecturer at Aga Khan University in Nairobi and Maseno University (Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) and Volunteer Clinical faculty – Professor at the University of California San Francisco (Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Reproductive Sciences). Prof. Bukusi, in collaboration with Dr. Craig Cohen at UCSF, established the KEMRI Research Care and Training Program in 1995. In addition to her substantial experience in conducting socio behavioural and biomedical research and providing HIV care, mentoring, and training health care and research personnel to enhance local and international capacity, she has a strong interest in research and clinical ethics and the development of systems and structures for regulation of research at KEMRI and in the country. She was the chairperson/founding member of the Bioethics Society of Kenya, (BSK), a multidisciplinary, non-political, non-discriminatory, and not-for- profit organization with a primary objective of promoting high ethical standards in bio- medical research, medicine and health care in Kenya. She is a board member of AVAC, Chaired the WHO HRP Alliance (capacity building for RH research) 2016 to 2021, and is a trustee for the HIV Trust, and an Elected Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (FAAS).
   KEMRI


9. Dr. Felix Mogaka
   Dr. Mogaka is a clinical research scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Research Care and Training Program (KEMRI RCTP) in Kisumu, Kenya. He studied Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) at the University of Nairobi and has an MPH in Global Health from the University of Washington, Seattle. His research interests are in the development and scaling up of innovative, sustainable, and community responsive strategies for delivering HIV and STI prevention options.
   KEMRI RCTP


10. Dr. Charles Muga
    Dr. Muga is among other functions, the Principal Investigator as well as Co-Investigator and Social Science Advisor for a number of projects sponsored by KELIN, Kenya. Dr. Muga also offers advisory services as a Social science / Community Engagement Consultant for the Kenya Pediatric Research Consortium and the Kenya Mental Health Foundation. He has worked as a Curriculum Development Consultant for the CBEC-KEMRI Bioethics Training Initiative. Moreover, he is also affiliated with Standard Media Services and serves as a Radio Talk Show Consultant on Social, Political and Cultural related matters. He also serves as, an advisory board member for the Organic Response initiative on Mfangano Island in Suba, Homabay County
    KEMRI/RCTP