Baylor Uganda on behalf of the UNIVERSAL Project-Capacity Building has awarded a Student Research Capacity Building grant, worth  US $7,000 to two students from Makerere College and Health Sciences Rashida Nakamyuka a Master of science in Pharmacology student & Carol Nansubuga from paediatrics each got USD 3500.

Carol’s research focuses on “Poor health related quality of life and its associated factors among adolescents living with HIV attending Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation-Uganda clinic’ while Rashida will research on Model based prediction of Dolutegravir dose requirements for HIV AIDS exposed children in Uganda.

Baylor ED Dithan Kiragga Said “This is an opportunity to introduce the students to international research collaboration, as a stepping stone into their clinical research career alongside their clinical experience”

The Award is sponsored by the Paediatric European Network for Treatment of AIDS (PENTA) Foundation Italy, with funding from EDCTP2. The focus is on facilitating African young investigators to develop scientific careers.

Students are encouraged to conduct their research at Baylor-Uganda HIV clinic or other HIV clinics. Students may also conduct prospective studies or, utilise available secondary data or stored samples at Baylor-Uganda HIV clinic.

Makerere  University  in  collaboration  with  Baylor  College  of  Medicine  Children’s Foundation-Uganda (Baylor-Uganda)  provides  small research grant for masters’ students who are interested in developing a research career in paediatric HIV care. UNIVERSAL  aims  to  develop,  evaluate  and  register  FTC/TAF  in  combination  with dolutegravir (DTG) as new paediatric antiretroviral (ART) formulation for the future universal treatment of children living with HIV (CLHIV), both for first- and second- line. Clinical trials will  be  carried  out  within  Uganda  (Baylor-Uganda  and  JCRC  sites)  and  Zimbabwe.  The Universal project will study appropriate dose ratios for FTC/TAF in combination with DTG, as well  as  monitoring  long-term  safety.  Baylor-Uganda  is  a  recruitment  site  for  the  Universal project clinical trials.