Kenya Grants
UW Global Innovation Fund Award
“The Children’s Healthy Oral Management Project (CHOMP)”.
This award aimed to develop a collaborative research, training, and implementation agenda around pediatric oral health and HIV in Kenya. Using validated curriculum, we organized a workshop that trained and calibrated oral health providers (pediatric dentist, general dentist, dental therapists, and dental students) on identifying oral diseases related to HIV. This project provided the basis for creating capacity in oral health and HIV research.
IADR Regional Development Program
“Advocating for HIV Research in Children & Adolescents.”
The goal of this project was to create a regional site for oral health HIV research among African children and adolescents by generating a collaboration among the IADR Nigeria and East & Southern African Divisions, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU – Nigeria), University of Nairobi (UoN – Kenya), and University of Washington (UW-USA). As part of this award, four junior faculty (three from Kenya and one from Nigeria) received a 6-week hands-on training in research methodology in Seattle at the University of Washington.
SunStar Award
“Integrating oral health into the pediatric HIV care continuum: baseline data of oral and systemic inflammation.”
This study aims to obtain preliminary data on the association between oral and systemic inflammation with the goal of developing strategies to reduce oral diseases and improve quality of life of people living with HIV.
UW Center for AIDS Research/NIH (Administrative Supplement)
“The impact of HIV on salivary antimicrobial peptides (AMP) in Kenyan children.”
This pilot study determines salivary AMP levels in HIV infected children, assesses the link with oral diseases, and explores its association with serum vitamin D levels. This cross-sectional study is being conducted by a multidisciplinary team of US and Kenyan researchers with expertise in pediatric dentistry, pediatric medicine, HIV epidemiology, and those involved in clinical trials in children with HIV.
UW Global Innovation Fund Award
“Decreasing inequalities in global oral health: Let’s publish your thesis!”
This award aims to increase research capacity by providing expertise on scientific manuscript writing in Kenya. The project provided didactics and one-on-one mentoring assistance to ten recently graduated Kenyan professionals as well as funding support for publication fee costs.
NIH D71
“TABASAMU: A multidisciplinary collaboration on expanding research capacity in oral health and HIV/AIDS.”
The aims of TABASAMU (smile in Swahili) are to identify a pioneer generation of oral health researchers, create a network of mentors, and to develop an educational program (MPH/PhD) for long-term training in oral health and HIV.
NIH R21
“Dynamics of HIV-infection, Oral Innate Immunity and The Development of Oral Diseases in Children.”
This grant aims to assess the extent to which HIV infection influences the occurrence and progression of oral diseases among HIV/AIDS Kenyan children and to create research capacity in global oral health by expanding current lab infrastructure to allow analysis of salivary AMPs in the context of HIV.