The Fogarty AIDS International Training Research Program (AITRP)

Dr. Eyo assisted in the submission of IRB protocols, learned Good Clinical Practices and observed volunteer recruitment, enrollment, counseling, vaccination, follow up, data recording and maintenance of clinical research files (CRFs). She witnessed QA/QC and PPD audits and learned what is expected of clinical files when conducting vaccine trials. Dr. Eyo returned to Nigeria in December, 2003 and is the ARV Program Coordinator at the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD).

Sonia Ferriera, D.D.S., Ph.D. – Dr. Ferreira’s Fogarty Training resulted in a Masters Degree in May, 2002 from the University of Maryland Dental School for her thesis “Lactoferrin as Non-Specific Immune Modulator in Oral Complications of HIV-Infected Patients.” She subsequently defended for a PhD from the Federal University November 24, 2003 based upon additional research relative to her topic of nonspecific mucosal immunity factors in the oral cavity conducted at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry following award of her Masters.

Since her return to Brazil, she has become a resource person for the topics of AIDS and the Oral Cavity to many hospitals, Universities and other locations in Brazil and organized the International Seminar on AIDS and Other Infectious Diseases in Maceio, attracting 130 physicians and 300 dentists from the surrounding economically depressed Northeastern states of Alagoas, Brazil. She has been scientifically productive having presented her research at the 14th International Conference on AIDS in Barcelona, Spain in July of 2002 and has one full-length manuscript pending publication and another in preparation. Dr. Sonia Ferreira has had considerable impact since her return to a faculty clinician/research position at the Federal University in Rio. Among her accomplishments she has organized 9 research symposia or conferences impacting a large segment of the dental research community in Brazil.

Marjorie Gillespie, BSN., M.Sc. is a nurse practitioner with an M.Sc. in Nursing and is about to complete her doctoral training program. Ms. Gillespie successfully defended her thesis proposal and completed her data collection in Spring of 2004. She is currently finalizing her doctoral dissertation, “Assessment of HIV/AIDS Preventive Behaviors among Immigrant Jamaican and Native-born African-American Women” and expects to complete her training by August, 2004.

Patricia Lar, Ph.D. - received her doctoral degree in Medical Parasitology in Nigeria and currently is a senior lecturer at the Department of Microbiology, University of Jos. Her postdoctoral research project is "Characterizing and Monitoring HIV-1 Subtypes in Target Populations in Nigeria." Thus far, Dr. Lar has been able to characterize HIV-1 subtypes in a population of HIV-1 seropositive pregnant women in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria through amplification and sequencing of a 1.1kb segment of the Pol gene, which covers the protease reverse transcriptase region. Dr. Lar is currently preparing a manuscript which highlights the prevalence of subtypes G and CRF02_AG strains in this region of Nigeria. The study was undertaken in collaboration with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.

Dr. Lar is also acquiring simple molecular technology for the monitoring of A/G HIV recombinant, the most prevalent strain in Nigeria and indeed the whole of West Africa. The ability to be able to molecularly monitor the dynamics of the HIV epidemic in Nigeria is critical in identifying the introduction of new strains, the bridge population responsible for its spread and the effect of intervention programs and broad use of antiretrovirals.

Pearl McMillan, MBBS is a Planning Officer with the Bahamas Ministry of Health. She has successfully completed her first year in the Master of Public Health Program at the University of Maryland College Park.

Oluwatoyosi Okurounmu, MBBS was accepted into the Master of Public Health/Masters in Business Administration (MPH/MBA) dual degree program of Johns Hopkins University. This dual degree will enable Dr. Okurounmu to gain knowledge in public health research and policy, which are critical in HIV research and prevention studies. The combined MBA/MPH program provides the principles of population-based health as well as finance and management, making graduates more effective managers and leaders in public health agencies.

The skills acquired in her research training will contribute toward the implementation of programs in Nigeria such as prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), optimum antiretroviral treatment of HIV (ARV), palliative care, blood safety and the conduct of HIV drug and vaccine clinical trials in collaboration with CDC and the Nigerian government.

Ali Johnson Onoja, Ph.D. – Dr. Onoja’s postdoctoral training, which concluded in August, 2003, focused on vaccine trials preparedness and developing a detuned assay for detecting acute HIV infection. Since returning to Nigeria, Dr. Onoja has been tasked with preparing Asokoro General Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria with becoming an expansion site on the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. He was named the Site Director for the University of Maryland/Center for Disease Control contract “Collection of Specimens Suitable for Validations of Assays with HIV-1.”

Ibrahim Sani, D.Phil. began his postdoctoral fellowship in April, 2003. The purpose of his Fogarty training is to acquaint himself with techniques involved in HIV vaccine development in terms of immunogenicity, specificity and safety. During the last year, he was involved in the generation of mutants of a candidate vaccine developed at IHV, with the aim of potential immunogen improvement and assessment of the mutant candidates using techniques, such as structural ELISA and Plasmon response resonance.

Currently, Dr. Ibrahim is assisting in the delineation of mechanisms of humoral responses to some of these antigens and in developing some of the reagents used in the process. Upon completion of his program, Dr. Ibrahim will return to Nigeria to participate in the conduct of HIV-1 vaccine clinical trials that the UMB/IHV is now initiating in Nigeria. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria.

Arley Silva, Jr., D.D.S. is a doctoral student at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Dentistry, Department of Oral Medicine; his project is "Identifying Homing T Cell Lymphocytes in Peripheral Blood and Gingival Tissue that specifically respond to bacteria in chronic periodontal disease." This research involves selecting lymphocyte markers of interest and testing monoclonal antibodies on healthy human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Peripheral Blood is run in flow cytometry machine and analyzed. Gingival tissues from patients with and without chronic periodontal disease from the oral surgery clinic are analyzed through immunofluorescence and compared with Peripheral Blood. Testing of antibodies lymphocytes markers is in progress.