Academic Alliance

A Global Coalition

Accordia Global Health Foundation’s Academic Alliance is a coalition of committed academicians, physicians, researchers and other leaders from well-established institutions in North America, Europe and Africa who work collaboratively to pursue Accordia’s goal of building stronger academic medical centers in Africa. The group recognizes that while international resources are needed to combat the ravages of infectious disease epidemics today, the solutions for longer-term success rest in developing and sustaining African capacity to train, treat and develop appropriate research and care strategies within an African setting. In partnership with Pfizer Inc and Makerere University, the creation of the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) is the Academic Alliance’s main accomplishment to date.

Members of the Academic Alliance continue to provide expertise and guidance to shape future healthcare programs in Africa, and to provide African academic medical centers with a reliable source of international expertise in infectious disease.

The Academic Alliance partnership is co-chaired by Dr. W. Michael Scheld, Professor of Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine and Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and Dr. Nelson Sewankambo, Acting Principal, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University Medical School and a pioneer of HIV/AIDS research in Uganda.

W. Michael Scheld, MD

W. Michael Scheld, MD is currently the Bayer-Gerald L. Mandell Professor of Infectious Diseases, Professor of Internal Medicine, Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Pfizer Initiative in International Health at the University of Virginia (UV) School of Medicine. Dr. Scheld received his BS with honors and distinction from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and his MD (with election to Alpha Omega Alpha) from Cornell University Medical College.  He completed his internship, residency, and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the UV Health System, Charlottesville. 

Dr. Scheld was awarded the Young Clinical Investigator Award from the Southern Section American Federation for Clinical Research and an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association in addition to many other honors and awards recieved during his career.  Dr. Scheld is a Founding Member of the Academy of Distinguished Educators at the UV School of Medicine as well as a Co-Chair and Founding Member of the Academic Alliance for AIDS and Care and Prevention in Africa.  He is the Founder of the Virginia Infectious Diseases Society.  Dr. Scheld has held executive positions at the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and is past president of IDSA, he was a member since 1997 of the American Board of Internal Medicine Subspecialty Board on Infectious Diseases as well as Chair from 2000-2004.  He was a member of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Program Committee for twelve years (including service as Vice-Chair and Chair), and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.  He is listed in all editions of the “Best Doctors in America” from 1992-2005, all editions of “America’s Top Physicians” since 2003, and in all editions of “America’s Top Doctors”. Dr. Scheld has been on the editorial boards of a number of scholarly journals, and is currently an editorial board member of Infection, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, and Medscape Infectious Disease.  He has published over 200 original articles and has contributed to over 200 review articles, book chapters, and books.  He is a frequent presenter at international conferences, meetings, symposia, and seminars.

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Nelson Sewankambo, MD

Dr. Sewankambo is Acting Principal in the College of Health Sciences at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Dr. Sewankambo was among the first scientists to publish data on AIDS in Africa, was instrumental in starting the AIDS Clinic at Mulago Hospital, and continues to be active in HIV/AIDS research. He is currently Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) of the Rakai Health Sciences Program. Sewankambo was founding Director of the Clinical Epidemiology Unit, and Co-PI of the Canadian IDRC-funded Behavioral and Qualitative Research on AIDS Prevention. He has served on numerous local and international advisory boards including the Working Party on the Ethics of Clinical Research in Developing Countries of the Nuffield Council for Bioethics, The Joint Learning Initiative, the WHO African Advisory Committee on Health and Research Development (AACHRD), and the Board of Directors of the International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN). Dr. Sewankambo is also Chairman of the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) Board, a member of Council of the Global Forum for Health Research, and a Chair of Initiative for Strengthening Health Research Capacity in Africa (ISHReCA).

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Robert Colebunders, MD

Dr Colebunders is professor in tropical diseases at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp and professor in infectious diseases at the University of Antwerp. He is head of the Clinical HIV/STD Unit of ITM.  From 1985 to 1988 he worked in the Democratic of Congo as Coordinator of the clinical studies on HIV/AIDS of "Project SIDA" in Kinshasa. He is one of the first physicians who studied and described the clinical manifestations of HIV infection in Africa. He also has been involved in 2 hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in Africa (Ebola and Marburg). 2004-2005 he has spent a sabbatical year at the Infectious Diseases Institute and was mainly involved in starting the IDI outpatient clinic.

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Jerrold Ellner, MD

Dr. Ellner is University Professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Professor of Medicine at New Jersey Medical School.  He is one of the premier world authorities on TB pathogenesis, epidemiology, and treatment. He has been actively involved in HIV/AIDS research in Kampala, since 1987, establishing a successful program for studying TB in Kampala, Uganda.   He has been Principal Investigator of the largest NIH grants ($19 million) for the study of Infectious Diseases and participated in an exchange program that has enabled over 60 Ugandan doctors to train in U.S. medical schools in epidemiology. Currently he directs an International Collaboration for Infectious Diseases (ICIDR) NIH program in Vitoria Brazil that conducts research on TB transmission and pathogenesis.  He has been repeatedly named to multiple “Best Doctor” lists and is a member of many organizations.

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Moses Joloba, MS, MBChB, PhD

Dr. Moses Joloba is the Head of the Department of Medical Microbiology, as well as Senior Lecturer at Makerere University’s School of Medicine. Since 2004, Dr. Joloba has served as the Head of the National TB Reference Laboratory in Uganda. He has been the Director of the Tuberculosis Research Unit (TBRU) for Case Western Reserve University since 2003. Dr. Joloba received his initial medical training Makerere Medical School in and later sought additional management training at the Uganda Management Institute. Dr. Joloba received his M.S. in Pathology and Clinical Microbiology as well as his Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology from Case Western Reserve University on a merit scholarship.   He has been a member of the Uganda Medical Associate for fourteen years and with the American Society for Microbiologist for the past 13 years. His current research activities include a co-investigator role on an HIV and malaria co-infection study in Uganda.  He is also the principal investigator on two important studies conducted at IDI: Molecular Biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Uganda; and Cell to Cell Signaling in Mycobacteria.

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Moses R. Kamya, MBChB., MMed, MPH, PhD

Moses R. Kamya is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Makerere University Medical School in Uganda.  Dr. Kamya is a key person in AIDS care at Mulago hospital and at the IDI. He formally trained in internal medicine at Makerere University (MU) and in Epidemiology at the University of California at Berkeley. For the past 10 years, he has conducted infectious disease research on HIV, STDs, tuberculosis and malaria and trained medical students and residents in the design and execution of several HIV related epidemiological and clinical research. Dr. Kamya has specific interest in the interactions between HIV and malaria. He has over 75 publications largely in this area. He is project director for the MU-UCSF research collaboration and the Ugandan director for the AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) at Case Western Reserve University both since 1998. He is also the PI of the Infectious Diseases Institute HIV cohort. He is an editor of the Uganda ART clinical guidelines and currently chairs the Ministry of Health (MOH) adult ART management committee. He is one of the Founding Members of the Academic Alliance for AIDS Care and Prevention in Africa.

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Elly T Katabira, MBChB, FRCP Edin

Dr. Katabira is the Co-Founder of The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) and their Medical Advisor since 1987. He is Professor of Internal Medicine and Associate Dean for Research, Faculty of Medicine at Makerere University. He was trained as a medical doctor in Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda and later trained as a physician specializing in Neurology (Manchester UK; 1984). He has worked extensively in the field of Care and Support for HIV infected people. He is a Director of the Mulago Hospital AIDS Clinic which he opened in 1987 and where over 20,000 patients have been treated. He specializes in the development of treatment and management guidelines for HIV/AIDS and has written several publications and chapters in various books on this topic. His research expertise includes clinical trials and operational research issues on various aspects of HIV/AIDS care and support delivery both within institutions and at the community level. He has consulted on HIV/AIDS Care and Supported UNAIDS and WHO both for the headquarters in Geneva and for the African Regional Office in Harare, Zimbabwe.

 
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Edward Katongole-Mbidde, MBCHB, MMED, MRCP (UK)

Dr. Mbidde is the head of Mulago Hospital Ugandan National Cancer Institute of Makerere University and a practicing Medical Oncologist. Dr. Mbidde obtained his MBCHB degree from Makerere Medical School in 1972 and specialized in Internal Medicine obtaining qualification. He specialized further in medical oncology in the UK. His responsibilities include teaching both the undergraduate students as well as residents in internal medicine at Makerere Medical School. He has conducted research locally and internationally. Dr. Mbidde has served on many committees locally and internationally and has presented at many international scientific meetings.  

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Harriet Mayanja-Kizza, MBChB, M Med (Int Medicine), MS

Dr. Mayanja-Kizza is an Associate Professor of Medicine, and currently Chair of the department of Internal Medicine at Makerere University Medical School and Mulago Hospital Kampala, Uganda. Dr. Mayanja is a internist and clinical immunologist involved in patient care, teaching and research. Her research interest is in the field of HIV and tuberculosis interaction, mainly interventional studies and immune interaction. The current area of research is the effect of tuberculosis on HIV progression, with specific projects in the area of cytokine and chemokine regulation in HIV/tuberculosis interaction. 

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Keith McAdam, MB BChir, FRCP, FWACP

Keith McAdam was previously Director of the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, seconded from Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, USA. He is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a position he held from 1985-2004. From 1994-2003 he was seconded to West Africa to be Director of the Medical Research Council (UK) Laboratories in The Gambia. Dr. McAdam grew up in Uganda, where his father Sir Ian McAdam was Professor of Surgery at Makerere. He did his schooling in Kenya and went on to study medicine at Cambridge University and the Middlesex Hospital in London. After training in Internal Medicine in London, he spent 3 years at the Institute of Medical Research in Papua New Guinea working on leprosy, malaria and filariasis as causes of secondary amyloidosis. Two years 1975-77 at the Immunology Branch of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda developed his laboratory and clinical research focus on inflammation, acute phase proteins and cytokines, which continued over the next 7 years in Boston as a clinical scientist in the Department of Medicine at Tufts New England Medical Center. Dr. McAdam was Medical Advisor to the UK Parliamentary Select Committee on AIDS in 1987 and recently was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics working party that produced an authoritative publication 'The ethics of healthcare related research in developing countries'. 

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Concepta Merry, MSc, PhD

Dr. Merry is a medical graduate from Trinity College Dublin who holds a masters in HIV from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in pharmacology from Trinity College Dublin. She did a fellowship in infectious diseases at North Western Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She is a Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Senior Lecturer in Global Health at Trinity College Dublin and is currently on leave of absence based at the Infectious Diseases Institute developing HIV pharmacology research and the AIDS Treatment Information Center (ATIC). She is also an honorary lecturer in pharmacology at University of Cape Town where she is involved in TB-HIV drug interaction studies. She is also co-founder of an Irish based NGO called Realta which is involved in community projects in Kampala and the Mpigi district of Uganda.

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Roy Mugerwa, MBChB, M.Med

Dr. Mugerwa is Professor and past Chairman at Makerere University, Department of Medicine. He is the Uganda-based Principal Investigator (PI) for the on-going NIH-funded Tuberculosis Research Projects as well as PI for joint projects between Makerere University and University of Medicine andDentistry, New Jersey. He was Principal Investigator for the completed first preventive HIV vaccine trial in Africa. He is one of the first African Scientists to identify AIDS in Uganda and has been Principal Investigator for various clinical and epidemiological trials of HIV-associated tuberculosis including two successfully completed IND studies and Principal Investigator of various intervention studies to prevent HIV transmission in women.

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Philippa Musoke, MD

Dr. Philippa Musoke is Associate Professor in the department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Makerere University. She is also Principal investigator for site MUJHU Care Ltd.  She previously served as the head of the Paediatrics department and an Investigator at the Makerere University-Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration based at Mulago Hospital.  Her medical degree was obtained from Makerere University.  She received her training at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Ohio and University of Louisville Kentucky and is board certified in Pediatric Infectious diseases.  Her research interests include; Prevention of Mother to Child HIV transmission (PMTCT), Paediatric HIV in resource poor settings and childhood TB.

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Thomas Quinn, MD

Dr. Quinn is Professor of Medicine, International Health, Epidemiology, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at John Hopkins University Medical Institutions. He is also Senior Investigator and Director of the International HIV/STD laboratory at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. One of the first western scientists to identify AIDS in Africa in 1983, he is now a leading authority on the epidemiology, transmission, and models of care for HIV in Africa and other developing nations. Dr. Quinn is responsible for the creation and operation of the state-of-the-art HIV-dedicated laboratory facility at the new Institute.

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Allan Ronald, MD

Dr. Ronald is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. He was the founder of the highly successful investigation unit for studying HIV and STDs in Nairobi, Kenya (1980-2004). He was President of the International Society of Infectious Diseases 1996-98. Dr. Ronald was based at Makerere University during 2002-2004 assisting with the organization of the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) clinical services. Allan was also Chair of Internal Medicine at the University of Manitoba and Physician in Chief of the Health Sciences Center; he is currently the Scientific Director of the National Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases, part of the Public Health Agency of Canada. In addition, Dr. Ronald is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and is the 2006 recipient of the Wightman Award from the Gairdner Foundation of Canada.

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Walter F. Schlech III, MD

Dr. Schlech is Professor of Medicine in the Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine and a member of the Division of Infectious Diseases. He has been involved in HIV research and care since 1982 and is a past member of the National Advisory Committee on AIDS in Canada and CDC Atlanta’s Advisory Committee on HIV, STD, and Tuberculosis. He is a founding member of the Canada-Africa Prevention Trials (CAPT) Network with partnerships in Uganda, South Africa, and Kenya. He has taught HIV medicine in both India and Uganda and his association with the Infectious Diseases Institute began as an AIDS trainer in 2003. He now returns frequently as a Professor-in-Residence to teach, care for patients and carry out research at the IDI and Mulago Hospital, as well as at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology. Dr Schlech is also a Governor of the American College of Physicians and a member of their International Advisory Committee and is a past-President of the Canadian Infectious Diseases Society.

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Gisela Schneider, MD, MPH

Dr. Schneider is a medical doctor specialized in public and reproductive health. She has over 20 years of experience in Africa, mostly in The Gambia (West Africa). She has specific expertise in developing and implementing training programs, specially at the community level. Dr. Schneider held the position of Head of Training at the Infectious Diseases Institute in Kampala, Uganda from 2005-2007. Prior to her time in Kampala, she helped set up a comprehensive HIV-care program for Gambia.  Dr Schneider is now director at the German Institute for Medical Mission (DIFAEM) in Germany.

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David Serwadda, MD

Dr. Serwadda is an Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of Public Health at Makerere University in Kamapala, Uganda.  Prior to that, he served as the Senior Lecturer in Infectious Epidemiology at the University and during that time, was also the Director of the Masters of Public Health Program.  His various publications have tackled themes such as: Alcohol use before sex and HIV acquisition; Mortality in HIV-infected and uninfected children of HIV-infected and uninfected mothers in rural Uganda; and the Role of sexual behavior change and the national response, just to name a few.  He is a member of the Ugandan National Committee for the Prevention of AIDS, and a member of the AIDS Research Subcommittee.  His expertise has also been sought by the World Health Organization (WHO) in their Department of Reproductive Health and Research, and the International Scientific Committee on research pertaining to AIDS and Associated Cancers in Africa.

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David Thomas, MD

David L. Thomas, MD, is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.  Dr. Thomas is trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases and cares for patients with chronic viral hepatitis.  He also oversees clinical research projects whose aims are focused on understanding the natural history and pathogenesis of hepatitis C virus infection.  Liver disease in HIV infected persons is a special area of clinical and research focus.  

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Fred Wabwire-Mangen, MBChB, DTM&H, MPH, PhD

Dr. Wabwire-Mangen is Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Makerere University Institute of Public Health where he teaches epidemiology and research methodology to graduate and undergraduate students. He was trained as a medical doctor at Makerere University, Uganda and later specialized in Tropical Medicine at Liverpool University, United Kingdom (1985), Immunology and Infectious Diseases (1987) and Infectious Disease Epidemiology (1994) at Johns Hopkins University, USA. His research interests include sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, malaria and reproductive health. He has been a co-investigator with the Rakai Health Sciences Program since 1994, where he was in charge of the maternal infant component of the STD control for the AIDS Prevention Trial. Presently, Dr. Wabwire-Mangen is leading HIV vaccine initiatives in collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. His strengths are in the design, implementation and analysis of research studies and the translation of research findings into public health policy and practice. Dr Wabwire-Mangen has over 45 journal publications, some in high impact journals. Dr. Wabwire also has specific interests in the development of innovative methods for adult medical education. In this regard, he spearheaded the development in Uganda of the innovative experience based MPH Training Program using the 'Public Health Without Walls' model. In the ten years of its existence, this Program has produced over 100 MPH graduates who are currently deployed in Public Health leadership positions in Uganda.

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