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There are 5 primary applicants, 9 key leaders and over 50 past/present mentor/instructors (see Research Supervisors and Mentors) from partner institutions across four continents (Please see About Us).

Get involved, how to become a mentor!

If you are interested in becoming a mentor and becoming involved in the Training Program please submit your CV and a cover letter.

The cover letter should indicate how your research involves infectious diseases or global health, what capacity you would be interested in being involved (lecturer, practicum mentor, trainee mentor or (hopefully) all) and that you will actively support the activities of the program.

Submit to:
natasha.hollett@umanitoba.ca

Primary Mentor/Advisor Terms of Reference:

Mentors

• are expected to participate fully in the training program (Infectious Minds Discussion Group, courses and practica);
• must provide Annual Trainee Performance Evaluations;
• must allow the trainee time to participate in the annual 2-week course, monthly infectious minds;
• are expected to provide sufficient funding support to their trainee(s) research activities;
• must sign a contract between mentor and trainee.

A synopsis of past/present mentors and supervisors in the program, more are listed in the List of Mentors

Keith Fowke is the Program Director of the CIHR International Infectious Disease & Global Training Program (IID&GHTP). As his career has evolved he has taken a greater interest in mentorship and has led the team on developing the current iteration of the training program and as part of that development he is now assuming the lead role for the Training Program. Dr. Fowke’s research is focused on understanding the immune correlates of protection to HIV infection and disease. With 18 years of research experience in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Fowke is also very involved in human and physical research capacity building in that country and holds cross appointments in two departments of the University of Nairobi. Capacity building also includes leading the development of new laboratory facilities in Nairobi. Dr. Fowke has active collaborations with each of the primary applicants. He holds a CIHR New Investigator award and a Manitoba Research Chair. He is currently PI on 2 CIHR operating grants and one PHAC grant and is co-investigator on grants from the NIH and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Carlos Rojas is a key leader and site leader at the Medellín, Colombia site. Dr. Rojas is an MD (Colombia) with a PhD in epidemiology (UNC at Chapel Hill). He has experience in the design and conduction of epidemiological studies for infectious diseases in rural (leishmaniasis) and urban (tuberculosis) settings in Colombia. Since 2003, he has been an associate professor of the National School of Public Health at the Universidad de Antioquia where he lectures on epidemiological and research methods. He has received international funding from WHO/TDR, IDRC, UNC and PAHO. He has also received national funding from COLCIENCIAS, Governación del Valle and Instituto Nacional de Salud de Colombia.

Javier Mignone is a key leader in the training program and lead of the Infectious Minds Scientific Discussions meetings. Dr. Mignone is a social scientist faculty member and graduate of the ICID Training Program. During his postdoctoral fellowship with the Training Program his article published in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine on best practices in intercultural health has been accessed by 2,511 readers since it was published. Dr. Mignone has a background in clinical psychology, health services administration, and community health sciences. He is involved in research on social determinants of health in First Nations in Canada, as well as on Indigenous health and health care in Guatemala, Colombia and Argentina. Dr. Mignone also leads HIV prevention studies in rural India and in Manitoba. He is a Research Affiliate with the Centre for Aboriginal Health Research.

Krishnamurthy Jayanna M.D is the site leader at the Bangalore, India site. Krishnamurthy is a physician, a public health specialist and a researcher; focuses on design and scale up of innovations to address inequities, quality of care and quality of life. His experience spans across the areas of HIV, Maternal, Neonatal and Child health, Non communicable diseases (NCD) and Primary Health Care in the low and middle income countries. He currently works as the Associate Dean: Research and Professor: Faculty of Life and Allied Health Sciences, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, India. As well as the site leaders, he is a mentor for International Infectious Disease and Global Health Training Program. In the past, he was part of the global health team at the University of Manitoba, Canada and was extensively involved in its projects across India, Africa and the Caribbean. He holds part-time faculty position with the University’s department of Community Health Sciences. He is also on the senior advisory team of Karnataka Health Promotion Trust and India Health Action Trust that implements large scale public health projects in India.

Marissa Becker is a mentor in the training program. Dr. Becker is an Infectious Diseases clinician and scientist with a focus on HIV care and research. She is a postdoctoral clinical fellow graduate of the IID&GH training program. Over the last five years she has been working in south India on a number of HIV research studies including being a site PI on a microbicide trial. She has recently joined the Departments of Medicine and Medical Microbiology and is also the Associate Director of the Manitoba HIV Program. While continuing her infectious disease clinical work in Winnipeg, she remains active with her ongoing research studies in India and is establishing an HIV research program in Manitoba with a focus on the First Nations population.

Francis Plummer is a key leader in the training program and is considered one of Canada’s leading researchers in HIV epidemiology and basic science, and a CRC Tier I Chair in Resistance and Susceptibility to Infections. Dr. Plummer is also Scientific Director General of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC’s) National Microbiology Laboratory. As Director of this unique Canadian resource, Dr. Plummer leads research on SARS, viral hemorrhagic fever viruses, Zoonotic infections, pandemic influenza, prions and microbial resistance. Dr. Plummer holds operating grants from the CIHR, NIH and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Stephen Moses is a key leader in the training program. Dr. Moses has made major contributions to the field of HIV prevention, including being co-PI on the Kenya male circumcision randomized clinical trial that demonstrated that male circumcision provided a greter than 50% protective effect against HIV acquisition in men. Dr. Moses is the Director of a major HIV intervention program in India, undertaking research and providing HIV prevention programs to a population larger than that of Canada’s. Dr. Moses holds grants from USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CIHR and the NIH. His main research and programmatic interests include biological and behavioural risk factors for STI/HIV transmission; syndromic approaches and risk assessment in the management of STIs; focused interventions among vulnerable groups to reduce the transmission of STIs and HIV infection; health worker training in STI management in resource-poor settings; and integrated approaches to STI/HIV prevention and control. From 2001- 2006, he held an Investigator Award from CIHR.

John Wylie is a key leader in the training program and coordinator of the practica portion of the Training Program. Dr. Wylie has a background in molecular microbiology and social epidemiology of infectious diseases, with a focus on HIV, STI, and other bloodborne pathogens. The majority of his work has been conducted in vulnerable populations in Canada, many of whom are Aboriginal. He has pioneered the use of social epidemiology approaches and methods in Canada. He was one of the originators of the new Colombia-Canada partnership between the University of Manitoba and the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia. Dr. Wylie currently holds grants from the Thorlakson Foundation and the CIHR.

Joseph Kaufert is a key leader in the training program. Dr. Kaufert is a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Senior Researcher, Centre for Aboriginal Health Research and Adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology. His research and teaching at the University of Manitoba and University of London (St. Thomas Medical School) has focused on cultural issues in public health, health promotion and research ethics. Over the past 15 years he has worked with the National Council for Ethics in Human Research and the CIHR Institute for Aboriginal Peoples’ Health to develop policy guidelines and knowledge translation strategies for community-based research ethics. He currently is Co-P.I or team leader in four CIHR funded research projects focusing on cultural and ethical issues in the areas of (1) research ethics and the human subject, (2) research ethics governance, (3) ethical issues in access to palliative care, and (4) development of appropriate hospice care for cultural and religious communities.

James F. Blanchard is a mentor and trainee supervisor in the training program and an epidemiologist and public health specialist. He currently is the Director of the Centre for Global Public Health (CGPH) at the University of Manitoba (Canada), where he is also a Professor of Community Health Sciences. A cornerstone of CGPH is applied research, and the design and implementation of international health and development projects in several countries including India, China and Pakistan, primarily in the areas of HIV and STI prevention. From 2001-2007, Dr. Blanchard lived and worked in India as Resident Coordinator of the University of Manitoba’s HIV programs. Dr. Blanchard’s diverse research agenda includes the epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease, the transmission dynamics and social epidemiology of HIV and STIs, and improving the impact of public health interventions through program science. He currently holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Public Health.

Reynold Washington is a mentor in the training program. Dr. Washington is a community health specialist affiliated with the St John’s Research Institute, St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences in Bangalore, India. He is the Deputy Chief of Party of the Samastha project, a five year USAID funded integrated HIV prevention, care and support program in Karnataka and coastal Andhra Pradesh, and leads the medical services division in the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust. With more than a decade of teaching experience at the medical college, his expertise lies in developing and managing systems for capacity development of care providers, STI and HIV care services and surveillance of HIV.

Marissa Becker is a mentor in the training program. Dr. Becker is an Infectious Diseases clinician and scientist with a focus on HIV care and research. She is a postdoctoral clinical fellow graduate of the IID&GH training program. Over the last five years she has been working in south India on a number of HIV research studies including being a site PI on a microbicide trial. She has recently joined the Departments of Medicine and Medical Microbiology and is also the Associate Director of the Manitoba HIV Program. While continuing her infectious disease clinical work in Winnipeg, she remains active with her ongoing research studies in India and is establishing an HIV research program in Manitoba with a focus on the First Nations population.

Benson Estambale is a mentor in the training program and the Director of the University of Nairobi Institute for Tropical and Infectious Diseases (UNITID). Dr. Estambale is the Principal Investigator on a project of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for malaria in schools in western Kenya.

Other mentors include experts in HIV/AIDS immunology, epidemiology, clinician science, aboriginal health research, public health, vector biology, medical anthropology, global health, prion disease, clinical trials, vaccines, antimicrobial resistance and geographic information systems. These experts come from the Universities of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Nairobi and Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin, the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as St. John’s Medical College in India. Many have served as mentors for trainees in the ICID program.

To download the PDF version of the List of Mentors Please CLICK HERE.