SITAWI: Turning the Tide for Women and HIV

ABSTRACT
In this renewal application, SITAWI: Turning the Tide for Women and HIV, the Kenya Medical Research Institute
(KEMRI) and University of Washington (UW) build on a successful 10-year training track record and expand the
collaboration to include Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), a research institution
in Nairobi with robust degree programs in public health. Since KEMRI is not able to award degrees, the addition
of JKUAT provides a critical path for rigorous graduate level training in Kenya. The goal of the next 5-year cycle
will be to provide training at KEMRI, JKUAT and UW promoting high impact research that will improve all aspects
of the lives of women and adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) with and without HIV. Our prior two cycles
have focused on implementation science research training and this next 5 years will add socio-behavioral
research and qualitative methods training because this was identified as a gap by our program and by other D43
programs in the region. Led by MPIs Dr. Elizabeth Bukusi (KEMRI), Dr. Carey Farquhar (UW) and Dr. Kenneth
Ngure (JKUAT), the new program will provide long-, medium- and short-term training while also building
sustainable training capacity at KEMRI and JKUAT in both of these areas with a focus on HIV and women across
their lifespan. The MPIs will be supported by Steering Committee members from all three institutions and a
Training Advisory Committee composed of internal and external experts in the field. More than 25 Core Faculty
members will mentor trainees, offering their expertise and opportunities to nest thesis, dissertation and post-
doctoral fellowship projects in their research grants. The SITAWI program will recruit and train early and mid-
career faculty and staff with permanent positions at KEMRI and JKUAT, supporting 4 MPH, 3 PhD and 4 post-
doctoral fellows. This mix of long-term training will maintain a pipeline of new investigators (MPH training) and
provide faculty development opportunities (PhD) since a doctorate is now required for permanent positions at
higher education institutions. Post-doctoral training is necessary to bridge the gap between doctoral-level training
and independence as an investigator, a key outcome of the program. The proposed program will also support 2
JKUAT Faculty Fellows to engage in curriculum development with colleagues at UW to strengthen JKUAT
doctoral and masters’ level tracks in socio-behavioral and implementation science research. They will spend one
quarter at UW taking classes and use knowledge and skills gained from this to enhance existing courses or
create new ones at JKUAT. Our final aim focuses on delivery of short courses and workshops to KEMRI and
JKUAT faculty and students, as well as to Kenya Ministry of Health personnel and investigators at other
institutions collaborating on research and programs to improve HIV prevention, care and treatment for AGYW
and women. These include two new short courses that will fill training gaps in responsible conduct of research
and qualitative research methods. After a decade working together, the MPIs are enthusiastic about engaging
in a new 5-year cycle, one that will be different in exciting ways from previous cycles and is highly responsive to
the Fogarty International Center’s call for institutional research capacity building to end the HIV epidemic.

Grant Number: 2D43TW009783-11
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth BUKUSI