Summer 2012 Clinical Epidemiology Training at Weill Cornell

Drs. Anthony Liwa, Samuel Pierre, Neema Kanyange, and Paulo Rocha

Four international doctors from Brazil, Haiti, and Tanzania recently completed a two-month intensive clinical epidemiology training program at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) in their first step towards pursuing a Masters degree. The program emphasizes practical foundations and research experiences that provide students with the necessary skills to become independent investigators. Participants acquired the basic knowledge and skills necessary to plan, conduct and present the results of clinical or health services research studies. With an emphasis on research methodology, participants learned how and when to apply different research designs and utilize appropriate biostatistical techniques from WCMC physician-scientists. All four doctors will attend 3 more months of intensive course work in New York in research methods and conduct a thesis research project at their home institution to receive the Masters degree from WCMC.

The students are, from left to right:

Anthony Liwa, M.D., plans to study the use of traditional herbal medicine in a chronically ill population (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, or HIV) in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Samuel Pierre, M.D., will be examining 10-year outcomes of HIV-positive individuals on anti-retroviral therapy, in addition to conducting qualitative interviews to document characteristics of individuals with HIV success stories, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Neema Kayange, M.D., will be studying prevalence, predictors and outcome of renal dysfunction in children with and without HIV infection in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Paulo Rocha, M.D., will be studying early urinary biomarkers of drug-induced acute kidney injury, in Salvador, Brazil. He will be looking at molecules (Ngal, KIM1) that appear in the urine soon after an insult and that allow detection of kidney injury earlier than serum creatinine, the current gold-standard.