Fogarty Fellowship Provides Professional Growth and Opportunities
As Jepchirchir (Chiri) Kiplagat comes to the official end of her Fogarty Fellowship, she looks back on a year of tremendous professional growth highlighted by being first author on a publication in The Lancet HIV about improving care for people aging with HIV.
“That was an unimaginable thing for me and it’s so exciting,” said Dr. Kiplagat. She said the support and guidance from her Fogarty mentorship team were integral to both the publication and a successful Fogarty year. “They have led me to do many things that I didn't think I could actually do. I really, really hope that I will walk this path with them until such a point that I’ll stand as an independent researcher,” she continued.
Jepchirchir (Chiri) Kiplagat worked on her Fogarty research while also serving as AMPATH assistant director of research.
Dr. Kiplagat’s mentor team includes Kara Wools-Kaloustian, MD, MSc (Indiana University); Jemima Kamano, MBChB, MMed (Moi University); Violet Naanyu, MA, PhD (Moi University); Rajesh Vedanthan, MD, MPH (New York University); and Sonak Pastakia, PharmD, MPH, PhD (Purdue University). She said they each brought something different to the team and helped guide not only her Fogarty research, but also career aspirations and alerting her to other opportunities. During her Fogarty year, Dr. Kiplagat also served as the only Kenyan on the organizing committee for The Lancet HIV and Healthy Longevity Summit held last March and she chaired a session at the event.
The Fogarty Global Health Fellowship Program is a 12-month clinical research training sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center (FIC) in partnership with several NIH Institutes and Offices. Fellows represent academic institutions from the US as well as partners in low and middle-income countries.
Although not a direct result of her Fogarty research, the Lancet publication reflects Dr. Kiplagat’s research interest in improving health systems to address the health needs of people living with HIV as they age. “My Fogarty research is specifically focused on the feasibility and acceptability of integrating hypertension and diabetes screening and treatment within the HIV care platform for older people living with HIV,” Dr. Kiplagat added.
The first aim of her research is to determine the unmet need for hypertension and diabetes screening and management for older adults living with HIV. Using the AMPATH electronic medical records system, Dr. Kiplagat and her team looked at the data of people aged 50 years and above from MTRH clinic sites to see what proportion was screened; how many of those screened positive were initiated on treatment; and how many of those initiated on treatment were able to control their diabetes or hypertension. Data analysis is ongoing.
The second aim of her research assessed the facilitators and barriers to integrating diabetes and hypertension care into the HIV care platform. Dr. Kiplagat conducted in depth interviews with program leaders, healthcare providers, sponsor representatives and focus groups with older adults living with HIV and has completed analysis of the transcripts. She intends to submit manuscripts for both research aims based on the findings.
Dr. Kiplagat encouraged early career investigators to apply for a Fogarty Fellowship if they have the chance. “In addition to the prestige that comes with it, the fellowship provides a wealth of opportunities including trainings, mentorship and networking with people with similar interests,” she said.
Dr. Kiplagat received her Fogarty Fellowship through the Northern/Pacific Global Health (NPGH) Research Training Consortium which also provided many of the trainings related to core research competencies such as presentation skills, abstract and manuscript writing. “I’ve done more training in the last year than I have in the last several years,” said Dr. Kiplagat. She also participated in four courses offered by University of Washington’s Department of Global Health that included project management in global health, leadership and management, monitoring and evaluation and fundamentals of global health research.
Additionally, all the Fogarty Fellows from all the research consortiums participated in a training on decolonizing global health that Dr. Kiplagat found very enlightening particularly as it relates to research publication authorship. An example she cited would be giving first authorship to the person who had the best command of English, even if another investigator may have significantly contributed to the research. She commended the AMPATH publications committee for striving for equity in authorship.
Dr. Kiplagat intends to use both the pilot data from this project and the skills she has acquired as a Fogarty Fellow to submit an application for a K43 career development award before the end of the year. Her long-term goals include a faculty position with at least half of her time dedicated to writing grants and conducting research. “I would like to develop an independent research career and research team within the field of HIV and ageing, an area of concern as people live longer with increased needs beyond those of their HIV infection,” Dr. Kiplagat concluded.