Research

HIV-Cervical Cancer Prevention Program

The HIV-Cervical Cancer Prevention Program at the Vanderbilt University Institute for Global Health is focused on generating evidence critical for improving the secondary prevention options for women at highest risk for development of HPV-induced cervical cancer.

Measuring Incident HIV-1 Infections in China - NIH/NIAID (RO3)

 

Building Capacity in Evidence-based HIV Prevention Research for MSM in China - NIH/NIAID (RO1)

 

Community-level HIV testing for prevention and care in Chinese drug users – MV-CFAR/NIH

 

NIH/FICRS Training Site for AIDS Research—Chinese National Center for AIDS Control (NIH/AMA/Vanderbilt)

 

Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars & Fellows

The Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars and Fellows (FICRSF) Resource and Support Center at Vanderbilt University is located in VIGH.

HIV Prevention Trials Network Leadership Group (HPTN)

The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) is a worldwide collaborative clinical trials network that develops and tests the safety and efficacy of primarily non-vaccine interventions designed to prevent the transmission of HIV.

Vanderbilt-CIDRZ AIDS International Training & Research Program

AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) at Vanderbilt University

AIDS International Training & Research Program

The Vanderbilt-CIDRZ-AITRP (PI: Vermund) is designed to train foreign scientists and key research support staff to conduct independent HIV/AIDS-related research and training in their home countries and to perform at an internationally credible level in collaborations with both local and foreign scientists. Now in its eleventh year of funding from the Fogarty International Center, AITRP partners with international collaborators from 6 countries (Zambia, Pakistan, India, China, Bangladesh and Mozambique).

International Experiences

In their own words, colleagues of the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health share their experiences abroad.

Colombian Neonatal Research Network

The Colombian Neonatal Research Network (CNRN), through collaboration with the medical university in Bogotá (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) and the support of the International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN), selects epidemiologic studies designed to improve the care of sick infants. The group is tailored to study techniques and regimens that cannot be studied easily in the United States. It's hoped the results of the studies could be of immeasurable benefit in developing countries, but also be of benefit in the U.S. and other developed countries.

Shanghai Women's Health Study

The purpose of this project is to collect biological samples from the participants of the SWHS and to conduct a methodological study evaluating the validity of the physical activity instrument and evaluating the relationship of physical activity with inflammatory markers. The methodological study includes 300 SWHS study participants and 300 SMHS study participants. The study includes multiple physical activity assessments, physical activity monitoring and collection of biological samples (blood and urine).

Breast Cancer Research Center

The Breast Cancer Research Program has a strong emphasis on breast epithelial cell and molecular biology, basic-science driven translational and clinical research, and molecular epidemiology.

Cardiovascular disease/population genetics research

Dr. Scott M. Williams' work in Ghana focuses on human population genetics and the differential distribution of disease-causing genes across populations.

Sedimentology and impact of shoreline erosion, wetland loss and climate change on life, infrastructure and habitat

Steven Goodbred, PhD Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at VU, studies the rivers and deltas of South Asia in the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys. His projects include: the control of floodplain development on groundwater arsenic contamination (Columbia University collaboration); source-to-sink responses to quaternary climate change (with University of Colorado); and geochemical tracing of source-area erosion under different climate regimes (with SUNY, Stony Brook).

Climate change and impact on human health and sustainable development

Jonathan Gilligan, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at VU, pursues research on the ways in which science and religion or spirituality can engage to address practical and ethical questions about sustainable development, climate change, and other environmental issues that will affect future generations. For most important anthropogenic (human-caused) environmental hazards, there is significant scientific uncertainty about the nature and severity of the consequences, such that standard approaches to risk management are not helpful. Dr. Gilligan is working to develop new approaches rooted in deliberative democracy that might improve upon strict cost-benefit analyses to achieve better public participation and political legitimacy in addressing major environmental threats to our future. This work engages the Ecology and Spirituality research group at VU's Center for the Study of Religion and Culture.

Research on emerging infectious diseases - SERCEB

Vanderbilt is one of the six principal southeastern universities in the Southeast Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefense (SERCEB) consortium to study microbes that could be used in a bioterrorist attack.

Ethics in research training

A multi-institutional collaboration to expand ethics and institutional review board training in Costa Rica is spearheaded by Dr. Elizabeth Heitman in a partnership built from years of interaction. The joint expectation is that excellence in teaching and conduct of research ethics and review will create a Central American hub of excellence that can serve neighboring nations' academic and government institutions. In this way, training excellence is extended far beyond the Fogarty training institutions themselves.

The Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions

The Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions is a university-wide program dedicated to the discussion and promotion of moral values relevant to the professional schools and the practice of the professions. It seeks to foster an environment conducive to faculty research and teaching in areas associated with moral leadership, and develop students' abilities to provide moral leadership within their chosen profession as well as within the broader community.

Mentoring in HIV and Tuberculosis Research

Dr. Timothy Sterling is fostering the next generation of HIV and tuberculosis researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.