SOUTH AFRICA-PITTSBURGH PUBLIC HEALTH GENOMIC EPIDEMIOLOGY RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM

SOUTH AFRICA-PITTSBURGH PUBLIC HEALTH GENOMIC EPIDEMIOLOGY RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM

About Us
Our Mission

Institutions

SAPPHGenE facilities include locations at the University of Pittsburgh, the CDC in Atlana, and two locations in Johannesburg, South Africa

Mentors

Meet the SAPPHGenE mentorship team

Requirements

Application information for degree and non-degree training programs

Resources

Links, forms, & information on getting to the US

Public health genomics is a burgeoning field that includes the monitoring of antimicrobial resistance, determining vaccine-preventable burden, monitoring the impact of immunization programs, as well as detecting and controlling healthcare- and community-associated outbreaks and studying transmission dynamics.

Contact

However, despite the increasing importance of this field, scientific capacity in public health genomics in Africa is limited. To address this problem, we have established the South Africa-Pittsburgh Public Health Genomic Epidemiology Research Training Program (SAPPHGenE) at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), a leading research institution in the United States and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a premier national public health reference and research institution in Johannesburg, South Africa. This program is co-directed by Dr. Lee H. Harrison at Pitt and Dr. Anne Von Gottberg at NICD.

Mission

Providing Tools for Conducting Cutting-Edge Research

The overall mission of SAPPHGenE is to provide young South African public health and academic investigators from historically-disadvantaged backgrounds with the multidisciplinary tools needed to conduct cutting-edge research on public health genomics. The main focus is research on epidemiology and genomic epidemiology of bacterial causes of pneumonia, other respiratory diseases, and invasive bacterial and fungal diseases, including antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have included training in SARS-CoV-2 genomic epidemiology to our program.

Our Team

Leadership

The Program Directors are Dr. Lee Harrison, Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and the head of the Microbial Genomic Epidemiology Laboratory at Pitt and Dr. Anne von Gottberg, Section Lead of the laboratory of the Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD.)

Dr. Lee H. Harrison

Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine
University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Anne von Gottberg

Associate Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
University of the Witwatersrand

Training Advisory Committee
Mentorship Team

Our Team

Leadership

The Program Directors are Dr. Lee Harrison, Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and the head of the Microbial Genomic Epidemiology Laboratory at Pitt and Dr. Anne von Gottberg, Section Lead of the laboratory of the Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD.)

Training Advisory Committee
Mentorship Team

Dr. Lee H. Harrison

Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine
University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Anne von Gottberg

Associate Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
University of the Witwatersrand

Our Team

Leadership

The Program Directors are Dr. Lee Harrison, Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and the head of the Microbial Genomic Epidemiology Laboratory at Pitt and Dr. Anne von Gottberg, Section Lead of the laboratory of the Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD.)

Training Advisory Committee
Mentorship Team

Dr. Lee H. Harrison

Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine
University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Anne von Gottberg

Associate Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
University of the Witwatersrand

The program includes a multidisciplinary group of experienced mentors at three training sites: Pitt, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, and NICD. We will provide a combination of non-degree and post-graduate (masters and PhD) degree training. Degrees will be provided by the University of the Witwatersrand, located 15 kilometers from NICD, and the degree research using South African data and specimens being conducted at the training sites in Atlanta and Pittsburgh.

Trainees will have access to substantial research training opportunities and resources that are available at the training sites. (For more details about these sites, please see our “Institutions” pages.) The focus will encompass training in genomic epidemiology and bioinformatics, with emphasis on the use of these disciplines in public health.

The Program

Preparing Successful Investigators

Our guiding principle is that our trainees should have educational experiences that expose them to a broad spectrum of advanced, cutting edge, and novel approaches to best prepare them to become successful investigators in public health genomic epidemiology, either in academia or in public health, where much of the innovative research in this field is occurring.

Therefore, the overall objective of SAPPHGenE is to provide a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and coordinated team-mentoring effort to trainees to foster high quality, independent investigators who have the technical, intellectual and leadership skills that will allow them to make major contributions to the field of public health genomic epidemiology. This will be accomplished through a co-mentorship structure, with one mentor being based at NICD and another based at University of Pittsburgh or CDC.

Salient & Innovative Program Features

Developing a Generation of Research Mentors

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Fulfills an unmet need in Africa in public health genomic epidemiology, a rapidly expanding field that is transforming global public health

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Establishes a dynamic training program that focuses on bacterial and fungal genomics

Leverages existing collaborations between investigators at NICD, CDC, and University of Pittsburgh

Includes mentors at the three institutions with expertise in epidemiology, genomics and metagenomics, and bioinformatics

Includes an excellent Training Advisory Committee that is well suited to assist and guide our program

Aligns with global activities in public health genomic epidemiology, including CDC’s Advanced Molecular Detection Program and other initiatives such as Africa CDC.

Will provide a model for the introduction of public health genomic epidemiology into other parts of Africa and the developing world.

Goal

Monitor, Prevent, Control

The ultimate goal of the program is to provide local capacity to monitor, prevent, and control our target bacterial and fungal diseases, some of which are vaccine preventable or antimicrobial resistant and all which are major causes of morbidity and mortality in South Africa, the rest of Africa, and globally. The training opportunities offered will substantially increase research capacity and foster the development of a generation of public health genomic research mentors in South Africa. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have included training in SARS-CoV-2 genomic epidemiology to our program.

Ultimately, we anticipate that NICD will serve as regional training center within Africa for research in and practice of public health genomics in Africa.