The Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) is a high-quality training programme designed to develop outstanding young African scientists into world-class research leaders. It is hosted by KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya. IDeAL is available to young researchers, from Undergraduate Research Attachments to Postdoctoral Fellowships, with the aim of keeping scientists at African institutions through a defined programme of recruitment, supervision and mentorship with the goal of establishing unique career paths for all students and fellows.
IDeAL is one of the 11 initiatives under DELTAS Africa (Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa) funded by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS)’s and Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) and supported by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency) with funding from the Wellcome Trust and the United Kingdom government.
IDeAL Team comprises over 200 persons including postdoctoral fellows, students, interns, mentors, supervisors, and the secretariat.
For more details on the schemes supported under IDeAL, visit the Programmes Page.
IDeAL builds on previous capacity strengthening activities at the KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme. As illustrated in figure below capacity building at the Programme has gone through different phases. During the earliest phase, 1989-2008, the emphasis was on building core structures to support research and training including high quality laboratory, clinical, field and ICT infrastructure. As these core structures expanded there was a gradual increase in the number of local researchers training at Masters and PhD levels, albeit on an ad hoc basis. It eventually became clear that there was need to develop a coherent framework to manage and scale up research training activities at the Programme. This was achieved through the awarding of a Strategic Award amounting to 12 Million Pounds by the Wellcome Trust. The award supported research training activities from 2008 to 2015.
As a result of the Award capacity building activities in the Programme expanded markedly. In addition, the award facilitated the centralisation and harmonization of capacity building management by providing a secure financial base that enabled long term planning of career paths.
In brief, between 2008 and 2015, 52 students were support to undertake PhDs and also received a further one year Postdoctoral support. 32 of these are Postdoctoral Reseachers at KWTRP and elsewhere while 8 are lecturers in local Universities. 5 have already received Wellcome Trust Training Fellowships. 88 people were supported for Masters training either directly or through support leading to the successful application for external Masters Fellowships (e.g. the Wellcome Trust Masters Fellowship). We have provided internships to 172 recent Kenyan graduates. Over 30 of who have now progressed through the research training to Postdoctoral level. Majority of the rest are either research assistants or Masters students elsewhere.
Importantly, work supported by the SA has contributed to development of a number of health policies and practice guidelines in Kenya and Globally particularly for prevention and treatment of early childhood illnesses. In addition, it has been presented in over 200 conferences and resulted in over 300 peer-reviewed publications (>150 first author papers – >50 in journals with an Impact Factor of >4, and > 150 non-first author papers – >30 in journals with an Impact Factor of >4.
Vision
African-led research solving African and global health issues
Mission
To generate a critical mass of African Research Leaders
Objective
Attract – To attract young African to research
Train – To provide high quality research training
Retain – To support the retention of African researchers in the Continent
Nurture – To nurture emerging African research leaders
IDeAL lays a strong emphasis on quality mentorship. All fellows have at least one mentor, for the low level training the supervisors with support from the IDeAL team largely act as the mentors. Each PhD fellow has two sets of mentors: the Studentship Monitoring and Advisory Committee (SMAC) which comprises of 3 people, two of whom are experts in the student’s area of study and a 3rd Party Monitor who provides pastoral support to the student. In addition all the students can access a further pool of 4 career mentors who have extensive knowledge and experience in the academic and research career landscape in the region.
Prof. Tom Williams
Email : TWilliams@kemri-wellcome.org Current Mentees
Past Mentees
Tom Williams is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College, London with more than 25 years of experience in research. He has lived and worked in the tropics for the majority of this time, where he has conducted a programme of work investigating the genetics of host resistance to infectious diseases, with a particular focus on the inherited defects of red blood cells. Tom has been based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya, for more than 17 years from where he has developed a wide network of research collaborations with partners in multiple countries within the region. His work spans from clinical epidemiology to genetic, functional and immunological laboratory-based approaches. He is a clinically active accredited specialist in Paediatrics with extensive experience in clinical surveillance. In collaboration with Anthony Scott he established, and has managed from its inception in 2001, the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KHDSS) – the largest HDSS in sub-Saharan Africa.
Prof. Jay Berkley
Past Mentees
Affiliations:
Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University
Jay is a consultant paediatrician and sub-specialist in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology based at the KEMRI Centre for Geographic Medicine Research – Coast and Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. Jay leads a research group focusing on infection and inflammation in childhood malnutrition, and on perinatal health. Jay joined the KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Collaborative Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya in 1997. He undertook a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship on invasive bacterial infections and their relationships with malaria, HIV and malnutrition. After completing specialist training in paediatrics and sub-specialist training in paediatric clinical immunology and infectious diseases in the UK, Jay returned to Kilifi. His current Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Research Fellowship is on tackling infection and inflammation to prevent mortality in malnourished children. Jay is involved in the Kenyan national training programme on integrated management of severe acute malnutrition and is an expert adviser to the Ministries of Health and the World Health Organisation.
Prof. Chris Drakeley
Affiliation(s):
Dr. Patricia Kitsao-Wekulo
Affiliation(s):
African Population & Health Research Centre, Kenya
Patricia obtained a PhD in Psychology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and Master’s (M.Ed. – Home Economics) and Bachelor’s Degrees (B.Ed. – Home Economics) from Kenyatta University, Kenya. While engaged as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Human Development (AKU/IHD), she was the Lead Research Consultant on a project which sought to provide for a living model of best practice in Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, develop understanding of factors that contribute to resilience in children growing up in adversity, and provide the framework for a longitudinal study of the influences of ECD programmes on human capital formation.
As a child development researcher, Patricia is interested in the investigation of the relationship between antecedent context characteristics and child developmental outcomes. This mainly concerns the influence of factors such as the child’s immediate environment on cognition, motor development, language and psychosocial behavior. Such research has important implications for the development of sustainable and efficacious interventions.
Prof. Sassy Molyneux
Sassy Molyneux, is an Associate Professor employed by Oxford University, UK, based at the Kenya Medical Research Institute-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. She is a behavioural scientist, with a background in human geography. Her current main research interests include health system finance and governance, responsiveness of health systems to user and population priorities and concerns, and research ethics. A cross-cutting area of interest is producing new thinking, evidence and recommendations around initiatives aimed at strengthening accountability processes in biomedical research and health delivery in sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Melissa Gladstone
Affiliation(s):
My focus is in creating tools to assess children with developmental disorders and disabilities as well as in improving low cost interventions and outcomes for children with neurodevelopmental disorders in low income settings. I am driven to change the focus in international child health from child survival to child thrival and child and family well being for all children and families. My research aims to understand what interventions can make a difference to children with neurodevelopmental disorders and how we can measure these changes effectively using culturally appropriate and relevant measures in low income settings.
Dr. Sara Atkinson
Email : SAtkinson@kemri-wellcome.org Biography
I am a Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Disease in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford and at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya. I received my medical degree from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School in London and completed clinical training in London, Newcastle and Oxford. My PhD was based at LSHTM and MRC, The Gambia. I first came to KWTRP as a Clinical Research Fellow in 2004 before being appointed as a Clinical Lecturer in Paediatrics at the University of Oxford in 2007. I have been based at KWTRP since 2013.
Research
Both infectious diseases and micronutrient deficiencies are widespread among children living in sub-Saharan Africa. My research questions concern the impact that infections and nutrient deficiencies have on each other. For example: could malaria and other infections be a causal factor in the widespread prevalence of iron deficiency in African children? We found that iron deficiency increases markedly over a malaria season. The hormone hepcidin, the master iron regulator, prevents iron absorption and recycling leading to low iron levels. We found that even asymptomatic malaria infection strongly induces hepcidin in Kenyan children. We are using genetic and epidemiological methods to investigate the impact of malaria on iron deficiency. It is possible that elimination of malaria may also prevent an important cause of iron deficiency for children living in sub-Saharan Africa.
The safety of iron supplementation is an important concern as studies suggest that iron deficiency protects children from malaria and other infections. I am using a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to address the question of whether a child’s iron status is causally related to their risk of severe malaria and/or bacteraemia. MR is an approach that utilizes the random allocation of genetic variants at conception to investigate causality between an intermediate trait (iron status) and disease (severe infection). In order to identify genetic variants for use in MR, I am conducting the first GWAS study of iron status (including hepcidin) in African populations. Validated genetic variants will be taken forward to large MR case-control studies of severe malaria and bacteraemia using stored samples from the Kilifi Biobank and the MalariaGEN Consortium.
Dr. Abdirahman Abdi
Abdi is molecular biologist with special interest in malaria. Abdi worked with the Programme between 2005-2006 as an intern, then research assistant investigating antimalarial drug resistance. He was then awarded a Ph.D. studentship by the AntiMal International Ph.D. Programme where he joined Prof Christian Doerig’s laboratory at the University of Glasgow working on P. falciparum protein Kinases. He rejoined the Programme in 2010 as Post Doc to work with Dr Peter Bull on PfEMP1 and it is role in the pathogenesis of severe malaria. In 2014 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Training Fellowship to study the secretome of malaria parasites.
Dr. Philip Ayieko
Phillip has undertaken evidence synthesis, economic evaluations and led the analysis of a previous cluster randomised trial. He is currently leading a team of 8 analysts and data managers who support the 14 clinical information network hospitals and generate its 2 monthly reports. He is leading the analysis of a new cluster randomised trial of CIN hospitals to test alternative forms of feedback.
Dr. Sam Akech
Affiliation(s):
Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders, KEMRI – Wellcome Trust, Kenya
Sam Akech is paediatrician with Dphil in Clinical Medicine from the University of Oxford, UK. He was initially based at the Kilifi site where he did studies leading to his PhD. He investigated haemodynamic status of children with severe febrile illnesses and conducted a number of clinical trials comparing different fluid regimes for treatment of shock in that population of children. He is currently a post-doctoral research fellow investigating risk factors for mortality and morbidity of common childhood conditions, guidance compliance and outcomes spanning hospitals (clusters) within Clinical Information Network. He aims inform case management of these conditions with high mortality, including triage, and identify outstanding questions that require pragmatic trials.
Dr. Charles Agoti
Dr Charles Agoti is a Mid Career Research Fellow (MCRF) under the IDeAL Programme. Prior receiving the fellowship Charles was working as Postdoctoral Bioinformacian with the Virus Epidemiology and Control (VEC) group within the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Kilifi Programme. For more than 10 years,
Charles’ primary focus was generating and analyzing respiratory virus genomes to improve understanding on the underlying transmission and evolutionary patterns that allow persistence of these pathogens in host populations. Charles has made significant contributions into the understanding of the nature and variant composition of local seasonal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV, a leading cause of childhood pneumonia) epidemics and the role of genetic variation in RSV repeat infections.
The IDeAL MCRF supports Charles to extend this transmission genomics work to medically important enteric viruses. Specifically, Charles will be investigating viral diarrhea genomics pre and post-rotavirus vaccination in Kenya to understand virus source, transmission patterns and vaccine impact.
Prof. Faith Osier
Affiliations:
Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University
UniversitatsKilinikum Heildeberg
Faith trained as a clinician at the University of Nairobi, Kenya and obtained her MBChB degree in 1996. She immediately took up her Medical Internship at Coast General Provincial Hospital, in Kenya where she also worked as a Medical Officer in the department of Medicine until March 1998. Thereafter she took up a post as a Medical Officer/Research Officer at KEMRI-Kilifi, working in the Paediatrics Department of Kilifi District Hospital. It was here that she began to develop a career in research, engaging in clinical research studies and actively taking part in institutional academic meetings including weekly journal clubs and seminars. She subsequently specialized in Paediatrics, training both in Kenya and the United Kingdom, becoming a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health UK in 2003 and a Consultant Paediatrician in Kenya in 2009. In 2004 she undertook a Masters in Human Immunity at the University of Liverpool, UK where she graduated with distinction, and was awarded a prize for being the best student of the year in the Department of Immunology. She has a PhD from the Open University, UK and currently works as a Clinical Research Fellow and Group Leader at the KEMRI-CGMR-C in Kilifi. She holds an Intermediate Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine from the Wellcome Trust, UK, and the prestigious MRC/DfID African Research Leader Award. In 2014 she was awarded the Young African Scientist Award by EVIMalaR, won the Merle A Sande Health Leadership Award and the Royal Society Pfizer Award. She is actively involved in capacity building for African Scientists and is building up a dynamic research group in Kilifi. Faith has been recently appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford
Prof. Mike English
Affiliations:
Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University
Mike worked in Kilifi from 1992 on malaria, in the early years of the ‘Kilifi’ programme, and returned to the UK in 1996 to complete specialist training as a General Paediatrician in 1998. He returned to Kilifi in 1999 to rejoin the programme and work on neonatal illnesses as part of a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship while also working as a paediatrician in Kilifi District Hospital. In 2004 after some work at more national level on quality of paediatric care he moved to Nairobi where he continues to work with the programme as a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. He was made Professor of International Child Health in Oxford in 2010. His work has included developing national, evidence-based guidelines for care of severely ill children and newborns, at first in 2005 and then updated in 2010 andArray 2013. To complement these Mike and colleagues developed the ETAT+ course, adapting WHO’s ETAT course and expanding its scope to include evidence-based case management of serious illness in the child and newborn periods. The ETAT+ course is now provided with the help of multiple colleagues and the Kenya Paediatric Association with training conducted across Kenya and for Kenyan medical students. Others have taken the course to Rwanda, Uganda and Somaliland. More information on this course and the approach to developing national guidelines can be found at www.idoc-africa.org. The Health Services Unit he leads has undertaken long-term studies by a multidisciplinary team on initiating and establishing ‘best-practices’ within rural government hospitals. This has resulted in a Kenyan team working with the support of international collaborators on hospital performance measurement, cost-effectiveness, motivation, task-shifting, and barriers to implementation. More recently work has started on governance, leadership, human resources for health and knowledge translation. The group are well known for their work on measuring and testing interventions to improve paediatric and neonatal quality of care. Mike and the group work closely with the Kenyan Ministry of Health and he provides technical advice to WHO on a range of issues related to child and newborn survival.
Dr. Agnes Gwela
Affiliation(s):
Dr. Yaw Bediako
Affiliation(s):
Prof. Kathryn Maitland, FMedSc
Professor of Paediatric Tropical Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine and Director of the ICCARE Centre at the Global Centre of Health Innovation, Imperial College, London and an Honorary Fellow at MRC Clinical Trials Unit, University College, London. Over the last 17 years she has been based full-time at the East Africa, where she leads a research group whose major research portfolio includes severe malaria, bacterial sepsis and severe malnutrition in children and clinical trials in emergency care. Her team conducted the largest trial in critically children ever undertaken in Africa (FEAST trial) examining fluid resuscitation strategies in children with severe febrile illness, showing that fluid boluses increased mortality compared to no-bolus (control) (Maitland et al, NEJM 2011). Her team is currently running two other large clinical trials investigating transfusion and other treatment strategies in 3950 African children with severe life-threatening anaemia (TRACT; Mpoya et al Trials 2016) and the optimum oxygen saturation threshold for which oxygen should be targeted and how best to administer oxygen in 4800 children (COAST: Children Oxygenation Administration Strategies Trial).
Dr. Patrick Munywoki
I am a post-doctoral research scientist at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP), in Kilifi, Kenya. I joined the programme as a project assistant in November 2005 after completion of a BSc (Nursing Sciences) Degree in Moi University. My main roles were to support inpatient surveillance of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Since then I have been involved in a broad range of research activities, including the development of new research protocols and expansion of the inpatient surveillance to include other respiratory pathogens.
In 2008, I was awarded a Commonwealth MSc training scholarship, and completed the MSc in Public Health in Developing Countries at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom in October 2009, passing with a distinction. Upon my return, I initiated epidemiological studies to investigate the transmission patterns of a range of respiratory viruses in the community settings.
These studies formed part of my Ph.D training under the supervision of Professors D. James Nokes (affiliated to KWTRP, Kilifi, Kenya and University of Warwick, UK) and Graham F. Medley (University of Warwick, UK). I successfully defended my thesis ‘Transmission of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Households: Who Acquires Infection from Whom’ at the Open University, UK in August 2013.
I am currently interested in unravelling transmission dynamics of a range of respiratory viruses in Kenya and identify potential control strategies.
Prof. Ifedayo Adetifa
Current Mentees
Past Mentees
Affiliation(s):
KEMRI – Wellcome – Trust, Kenya
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
Ifedayo is a consultant pediatrician and infectious diseases epidemiologist. Prior to his arrival at the programme, he worked for a decade at the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia where he led clinical and field activities for the Tuberculosis (TB) epidemiology research including the TB case contact platform. His research interests there were delivery of TB diagnostics and care, assessment of novel diagnostics for TB infection and disease including biomarkers for disease and protection, and systematic reviews. In his last MRC role, he was the principal investigator on a £2.6million TB Epidemiology projects portfolio that included a nationwide TB prevalence survey and a community randomised trial to assess the impact of an enhanced TB case finding strategy on TB notification. He works full time at the Kilifi KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme on the Pneumococcal Vaccine Impact Study (PCVIS), and the Kilifi Vaccine Assessment Platform. He is also with the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. His current research interests are vaccine effectiveness studies, vaccine monitoring including issues of coverage, timeliness, and equity.