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Awardees selected for Meade Travel Grants
We’re pleased to announce the latest recipients of our Meade Travel Grants in Epidemiology.
We’re pleased to announce the latest recipients of our Meade Travel Grants in Epidemiology. This year’s awardees are aiming to address urgent health issues in sub-Saharan Africa, such as type 2 diabetes, malaria, and neonatal sepsis.
This research is supported by Professor Thomas Meade, a distinguished epidemiologist with a special interest in cardiovascular disease. Professor Meade received the esteemed Balzan Prize in 1997 for his work in cardiovascular epidemiology. This prize now funds the Meade Travel Grants in Epidemiology.
The funding scheme aims to support mid-career researchers in sub-Saharan Africa, working in the field of epidemiology, who are transitioning to research independence and wish to collaborate with researchers based at a UK institution. The grants will support winning researchers to spend one to three months in a UK-based research organisation, to develop working relationships, learn new skills, or undertake a short project that would not be possible to carry out at home.
Each grant, of up to £13,000, will be used to support travel, visas, subsistence, and research consumables during the awardees’ time in the UK.
Dr Raylton Chikwati - Understanding the causal effects of Body-Mass-Index (BMI) on type 2 diabetes and hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa
Dr Raylton Chikwati, from the Wits Health Consortium (South Africa), will be working with Professor Deborah Lawlor from the University of Bristol to explore the genetic causes of obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa.
A previous study by Dr Chikwati examined the prevalence of these conditions among 12,000 adults in this region. It highlighted the need to understand the causal mechanisms of obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa, due to inadequate health services for treating the illnesses in this area.
Dr Chikwati is working with Professor Lawlor and colleagues in Bristol to develop his skills in genetic epidemiology. He will be attending a short course and researching the causal relationship of obesity with type 2 diabetes and hypertension using data from his past study.
Through this joint effort, the researchers hope to improve our understanding of these urgent health issues.
Dr Onyango Sangoro - Quantifying the impact of house screening on malaria transmission in southern Africa
Dr Onyango Sangoro, from the Ifakara Health Institute (Tanzania), will be collaborating with Professor Thomas Churcher from Imperial College London to investigate the impact of various malaria-controlling interventions in southern Africa.
Dr. Sangoro aims to develop advanced skills to model and simulate the impact of tools like untreated eave screens - basic mesh installed in roof edges without protective coatings - on malaria transmission.
He will carry out an apprenticeship training course in transmission dynamics mathematical modelling in infectious disease control. He will also work with the Imperial College team to learn more about modelling malaria-controlling tools and simulating their impact in a range of ecological settings.
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Dr Cecilia Smith - Evaluating the risk of developing Schistosoma-associated bladder cancer in endemic Ghanaian communities
Dr Cecilia Smith, from the University of Health and Allied Sciences (Ghana), is working to identify genetic risk factors for Schistosoma-associated bladder cancers.
Schistosomiasis is a neglected parasitic disease that is endemic in some Ghanian communities. Recent studies have linked the disease to bladder cancer, although these mechanisms are not fully understood.
Dr Smith aims to address the gap in knowledge surrounding how the disease can lead to bladder cancers, by studying both epidemiological and cancer biomarkers. Collaborating with researchers at Birmingham City University, Dr Smith will carry out detailed gene expression analysis, to determine risk factors for Schistosoma-associated bladder cancers (SABC).
Dr David Mukunya - Assessing the effectiveness of household alcohol-based hand rub for the prevention of sepsis, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in Ugandan infants
Dr David Mukunya, from Busitema University (Uganda), is collaborating with researchers from the University of Liverpool to assess how effective alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR) is for preventing severe illness or death in the first three months of life.
Infections and neonatal sepsis are leading causes of infant deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. Accessible, affordable, and sustainable interventions to prevent neonatal sepsis are urgently needed.
A previous clinical trial, the ‘BabyGel’ trial, was set up to determine if ABHR could prevent sepsis and other responses to infectious disease among 6,000 pregnant women and their infants in Uganda, over a period of five years. Now, Dr Mukunya will be working with researchers from the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to analyse data from this trial.
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