The long-standing partnership between Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH) and collaborators Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) and Bayero University (BUK) is poised to address the growing demand for research in precision medicine in Africa. This collaborative effort has been recognized with a five-year, $1.2 million training grant from the Fogarty International Center for an innovative research ethics training program. The program is set to develop the first Master of Science in Research Ethics degree program in northern Nigeria.
The Vanderbilt-Nigeria Research Ethics Training (V-NET) program is a comprehensive initiative that encompasses curricular development, didactic coursework, skills development, mentoring, and practicum experiences. This holistic approach is designed to build capacity for the ethical design, conduct and oversight of genetic and genomic research in Nigeria.
Under the guidance of three principal investigators, Muktar Aliyu, MD, DrPH, MPH, director of VIGH and professor of Health Policy and Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Elisa J. Gordon, PhD, MPH, professor of Surgery and director of Surgical Outcomes Research and Transplant Outcomes Research at VUMC, and Zubairu Iliyasu, MBBS, PhD, immediate past chair of Nigeria’s National Health Research Ethics Committee and professor of Public Health at BUK, the V-NET team, comprising co-investigators, mentors, educators, and the training advisory committee, along with the Nigerian implementation team, will provide a wealth of learning opportunities for trainees to acquire new skills and knowledge.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity to build research ethics capacity in an important partner country. I am excited that we will be leveraging VUMC’s reputation as a global leader in precision medicine with Dr. Gordon’s expertise as a nationally recognized leader in the field of bioethics,” Aliyu said.
The multiprincipal investigator structure offers leadership to a robust group of experienced researchers and educators from VUMC’s Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society (CBMES), VIGH, AKTH, BUK, the National Health Research Ethics Committee of Nigeria, and VUMC.
Hosted training opportunities at Vanderbilt include the annual one-month-long Vanderbilt Institute for Research Development and Ethics faculty enrichment program at VUMC, which benefits eight Nigerian researchers over five years, and an annual three-week practicum at CBMES for 12 Nigerian Institutional Review Board (IRB) members to strengthen their skills in protocol review and administration.
Additional training at AKTH in Nigeria includes an annual five-day research ethics workshop for IRB and Community Advisory Board members on protecting human subjects in research, ethics of genetic and genomic research, and review of genomic research protocols for more than 150 trainees.
“This award is yet another exciting opportunity for us at Bayero University to solidify our impactful collaboration with colleagues at Vanderbilt University to mentor future faculty members in the ethical conduct of genomic research,” Iliyasu said.
Expected impacts from the program include the creation of a curricular toolkit on the ethics of genetic and genomic research tailored to Nigerians and other African IRB members and research ethics educators and the coordination of quarterly online research ethics webinars presented by global ethics experts to African researchers.
Through V-NET, a skilled cohort of Nigerian academics, researchers and health care professionals will emerge, providing leadership in the ethical design and review of genetic and genomic studies in Nigeria’s rapidly evolving research landscape.
