CAPACITY STRENGTHENING & BUILDING
Capacity strengthening is a key part of the ERASE-TB work plan. Within the consortium the main area of capacity strengthening is through the training of PhD students, with at least one PhD student recruited in each of the African countries: Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. These students will have joint supervision by scientists from across the consortium, and the experience of being part of a large international multi-centre consortium. This will increase scientific and research capacity through the training of these local students.
In addition junior and middle grade researchers across all sites will be invited to online seminars organised at the different institutions. This will include PhD meetings, upgrading and pre-viva PhD seminars and other research meetings. Also regular online teaching seminars will be organised focused on data management, statistics, study design, quantitative and qualitative data collection. These seminars will be open to all researchers, study staff and students.
TB laboratory capacities are well established at all three African sites. Standard operating procedures will be exchanged between the three sites. Each site will offer an internship to biomedical scientists in their last year of their studies or to recently graduated biomedical scientists (one per site – 6 months per internship).
Experience in field studies, household contact tracing, and in the use and implementation of diagnostic tests will also be available to consortium members through the research being conducted. All members of the partner teams will also gain both additional experience in conducting field trials of diagnostic tests, but in collaborating within a consortium, a key skill for successful national and international research.
OUR STUDENTS
Our ERASE-TB Team is committed to fostering new talent and to working in partnership with talented Post Doctoral, PhD and MSc students. Throughout their studies, our students will further develop their critical thinking, research, analytical and communication skills which are globally valued and incredibly beneficial both individually and to society at large by contributing to policy and decision making processes. Research is crucial to social and economic development, and is essential to discover which diagnostics and treatments work best and discovering new approaches to disease management and improving quality of life.
Post Doctoral fellows
Dr Claire Calderwood is an Academic Clinical Fellow in Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College London. Her research focuses on tuberculosis, multimorbidity, and global respiratory health, using epidemiology and mixed-methods implementation science to understand how respiratory infections interact with long-term conditions and to develop person-centred approaches to care.
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Her work spans both the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe and is informed by her Wellcome-funded PhD in Epidemiology, conducted at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Biomedical Research and Training Institute.
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Dr Calderwood’s clinical practice is based at the Royal Brompton Hospital, where she serves as a Specialty Trainee in Respiratory and General Internal Medicine. She is committed to improving lung health and outcomes for vulnerable populations through clinically informed, systems-focused research.
Dr Claire Calderwood
Dr Tinotenda (Tino) Taruvinga is a dedicated public health professional and accomplished researcher with a strong background in epidemiology and infectious diseases. He holds a PhD in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and is an NIH Fogarty TRENT Fellow.
With over 16 years of experience spanning government, non-governmental organisations, and multilateral institutions, Dr Taruvinga has built extensive expertise across a broad range of public health programmes. He has worked with organisations such as Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and has contributed to initiatives in public health research, nutrition, infectious disease prevention and control, emergency preparedness and response, health systems strengthening, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).
Dr Taruvinga has actively participated in research projects focusing on maternal and child health and public health emergency responses across Africa and Asia. His work has advanced understanding of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, particularly among vulnerable populations and healthcare workers, reinforcing his commitment to strengthening resilient health systems and improving global health outcomes.
Dr Tinotenda Taruvinga
Dr Edson Marambire is an experienced and passionate public health professional and researcher with a nursing background.
He holds a PhD in Medical Research and International Health (2025) from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and a Master of Public Health from Africa University (2021).With over 15 years of technical experience, Dr Marambire has made significant contributions to HIV and tuberculosis prevention and treatment programmes through collaborations with non-governmental organisations and the Ministry of Health and Child Care in Zimbabwe. He currently leads the tuberculosis research portfolio, having progressed through roles focused on coordinating, managing, and advancing high-impact clinical research studies.
His work is driven by a strong commitment to improving infectious disease outcomes and strengthening public health systems globally.
Dr Edson Marambire
PhD Students
Denise is a Medical Doctor currently working for Instituto Nacional de Saúde (INS), Mozambique, as a researcher in the field of TB and infectious diseases. For the past three years, she has focused on improving TB diagnostics and treatment outcomes for children and adolescents locally. As of 2021 she has been accepted as a PhD candidate at LMU’s PhD in Medical Research – International Health program. Her main research interests involve Paediatrics, Immunology and Lung Health.
Research: Pulmonary Function Outcomes in Children with Presumptive TB
In adults, several studies reported a decline in lung function following a clinical or microbiological TB diagnosis. While spirometry has been used to understand lung function in children with HIV, few spirometry data exists in children following respiratory acute respiratory infection, let alone Pulmonary TB. The proposed research aims to describe the impact of TB and other respiratory diseases on lung function, including changes in lung function during and after treatment and characterize residual lung impairment as well as the associated risk factors.
Supervisor: Dr. Celso Khosa, MD PhD. Instituto Nacional de Saúde, Mozambique.
Start date: October 2021
Denise Banze
Alfred was born in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. He is a medical Doctor and holds a Bachelor degree in Medicine from the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). He worked as a certified medical practitioner at the Marie Stopes International Hospital, Dar-Es-Salaam before joining the National Institute for Medical Research in 2019. Since then he is working under the Department of Tuberculosis and Emerging Diseases as an Investigator and Clinical Research Coordinator of ongoing studies at the Mbeya Medical Research Centre (NIMR-MMRC) and oversees activities related to coordination of projects at the site.
His main area of research interest is on infectious diseases in particular TB, primarily centered on the diagnostics field.
Research: Novel biomarkers for detection of Tb disease and treatment response monitoring in adolescents and adults in Tanzania.
The proposed PhD project will be nested within the EDCTP-funded ERASE-TB study and the affiliated institution is CIHLMU Center for International Health at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
Supervisors: Dr. Norbert Heinrich, Division of infectious diseases, Medical Centre of the University of Munich; Dr Nyanda Elias Ntinginya, NIMR-MMRC.
Start date: October 2021
Alfred Mfinanga
Martha is a medical laboratory scientist and a PhD fellow at The Health Research Unit-Zimbabwe. She is involved in tuberculosis research with a vested interest in diagnostics and molecular epidemiology. For her PhD in International Health-Medical Research, she is registered with the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Germany.
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Research: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) complex transmission within households and the community.
Traditionally, Mtb transmission has been regarded to occur mostly within households. Since the mid-1980s, the availability of molecular methods allowed for comparisons of Mtb strains between two individuals to infer or refute direct transmission. Early studies showed that index patients and their household contacts frequently did not have similar Mtb strains, suggesting transmission outside the household. Martha’s PhD applies molecular and geospatial tools to understand how much of Mtb transmission is occurring within households and in the community; and to understand where in the community is transmission ongoing. The overall aim is to guide the prevention and management of tuberculosis.
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Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Norbert Heinrich (LMU, Germany), Prof Katharina Kranzer (LSHTM, United Kingdom), and Dr Junior Mutsvangwa (BRTI, Zimbabwe),
Start date: October 2023
Martha Chipinduro
MSc Students
I am a medical laboratory scientist registered with the Medical Laboratory and Clinical Scientists Council of Zimbabwe (MLCSCZ). My expertise is in clinical laboratory testing and sampling for research and experimental studies. I am currently involved in the ERASE-TB project where I perform routine diagnostic testing of specimens for early tuberculosis detection.
I am also registered for a MSc Infectious Diseases at LSHTM. I am looking forward to developing my analytical skills in clinical research with the goal of pursuing a career as a researcher.
Mutsawashe Chisenga
Karlos Madziva
Karlos Madziva is a Public Health researcher working with the Health Research Unit Zimbabwe (THRU ZIM) since 2019. He did his BSc in Social Work with the University of Zimbabwe which was awarded with Honours, and holds an MSc in Development Economics from Bindura University of Science Education.
Karlos first joined the THRU ZIM team, working on a study investigating the burden and impact of Anti-Microbial Resistance (ARGUS) before joining the ERASE-TB study. His research interests are in Global health, Universal Health Coverage and Tuberculosis, particularly the impact of artisanal mining on the Tuberculosis epidemic in Zimbabwe. As part of his role in ERASE-TB, Karlos works with local hospitals and polyclinics to identify and recruit TB index cases. His work has highlighted that a third of men with TB in Harare have a history of mining, with the vast majority involved in artisanal mining, often without good access to personal protective equipment. Therefore improving the health of artisanal miners will be critically important to ending the TB epidemic in Zimbabwe.
As of September 2022, Karlos is starting an MSc in Public Health with LSHTM with a focus on Health Economics. During his MSc he plans to conduct further research on TB among mining communities in Zimbabwe. Outside of work, Karlos enjoys reading and mentoring students involved in community development from the University of Zimbabwe (ENACTUS).
