2015 Annual Report - Sustainable Sciences Institute

Engaging in
ACTION-LED RESEARCH
to reduce the global
burden of infectious
diseases
Photo: Morgan Arnold
Sustainable
Sciences
Institute
ANNUAL REPORT 2015
SSI: Our Mission
Our unique approach supports scientific and public health communities in
resource-poor settings to develop local capacity and strengthen public
health systems, with positive impact.
Global health relies on biomedical scientists and public health workers who can recognize
and resolve health problems at the local level.
In limited-resource settings, scientists and public health professionals face tremendous
challenges, including lack of technical training, research tools, financial resources and
up-to-date scientific information.
SSI works with local partners to better meet the public health needs of their communities by:
1.
Promoting action-led research in response to locally identified problems
2.
Identifying innovative context-relevant technologies
3.
Strengthening global knowledge exchange networks
4.
Training and supporting professional development
78 training workshops
for 1,800+ public health
professionals from
29 countries in Latin
America and Africa
100+ publications in
peer-reviewed
scientific journals
have directly
resulted from SSI
workshops and
mentorship
Over $1 million
donated in
equipment to 23
labs in Latin America
and Africa
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Dengue
SSI, together with UC Berkeley and other
consortium partners, was awarded two major
5-year NIH/NIAID grants: a Program Project
(P01) and a Human Immunology Project
Consortium (HIPC). The objective of these
grants is to characterize the immune response
to dengue virus natural infections and
vaccination. Both grants enable SSI to continue
conducting the Nicaraguan Pediatric Dengue
Cohort Study, ongoing since 2004, now the
longest continuously running dengue cohort in
the world.
Influenza
SSI-Nicaragua was one of 4 sites selected to conduct a
CDC-funded study on the burden of influenza virus
infection among hospitalized infants in low- and
middle-income countries and the potential of prevention
through influenza vaccination. Other participant sites are
in Albania, Jordan, and the Philippines. SSI also extended
its collaboration with the NIAID Center of Excellence for
Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) at St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital. This will allow SSI to
continue two influenza studies aimed at understanding
influenza epidemiology and transmission in a tropical
setting, ongoing since 2011.
Chikungunya
SSI-Nicaragua supported the country’s preparedness efforts for
the introduction of chikungunya (CHIK), a mosquito-transmitted
viral disease that has been sweeping through Latin America
since 2013. Anticipating the impending introduction into
Nicaragua, in early 2014, SSI obtained reagents to set up
molecular and serological diagnosis in the National Virology
Laboratory (NVL). The NVL developed, validated, and distributed
in-house assays in record time, which allowed the detection of
the first imported cases in July 2014. SSI’s support allowed the
Ministry of Health to get in front of this new epidemic and
improve the response time, diagnostic capacity, and
effectiveness of the public health system to combat CHIK.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Capacity Building
In 2015, SSI held 5 workshops and trained 90
scientists in laboratory techniques, scientific writing
and research proposal writing. At the Jordan
University of Science and Technology Center in Irbid,
Jordan, veterinarians learned about laboratory
detection of zoonotic diseases. In Nicaragua,
Panama, and Colombia, research proposal writing
and manuscript preparation were the focus, across a
wide range of public health research topics. Since
1998, more than 1,800 scientists from Latin America
and Africa have participated in SSI workshops!
Hepatitis C
The National Liver Institute – SSI Collaborative Research Center
(NLI–SSICRC) in Egypt is focused on continued growth of the Liver
Disease Biorepository (inaugurated in January 2014). To date,
approximately 1,300 patients have had well annotated samples
saved in the repository. Research projects on the molecular genetics
of hepatocellular carcinoma and analysis of KIR (Killer Inhibitory
Receptors) genotypes in Egyptians are ongoing. Research Associates
Waleed Bakr, Asmaa Mosbeh, and Ahmed Atef received training from
SSI collaborators at the California Pacific Medical Center and The
Ohio State University. In November 2015, the Dean of the National
Liver Institute at Menoufiya University met with SSI staff in San
Francisco to discuss future collaborative research and training plans.
ICT for Health
Our Nicaragua-based ICT team worked in close
collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Nicaragua to
implement the FIRST ICT-Tools project (Fighting Infections
through Research Science and Technology) funded by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Instituto Carlos
Slim para la Salud (Mexico). This project focuses on the
creation of low-cost ICT tool prototypes to improve
workflow and information flow around time-sensitive
infectious disease epidemic response and outbreak
prevention. SSI also helped develop and pilot DengueChat,
a novel cellphone and web-based application to engage
communities in evidence-based mosquito control.
www.denguechat.org
2015 Training Focus
Dr. Clemencia Ovalle (second from left) was first introduced to SSI as a young researcher
at the Centro Dermatológico Federico Lleras Acosta (CDFLA) in Bogotá, Colombia, when
she attended a SSI Peer Laboratory Training workshop in 2005. She then applied to SSI’s
small grants program and was awarded $10,000 by SSI to study the standardization of
PCR-RFLP mini-exons in Leishmaniasis for the diagnosis and characterization of the
cutaneous and mucosal forms of the disease. Her laboratory at CDFLA received donated
lab supplies and equipment through SSI’s material aid program, which allowed Dr. Ovalle
to move forward with her research.
Since then, Dr. Ovalle has obtained her Ph.D. and is now the Director of Teaching and
Research at the CDFLA, with a completely remodeled laboratory. Having stayed in contact
with SSI staff and mentors, Dr. Ovalle invited SSI to conduct a scientific manuscript-writing
course in December 2014. Seventeen students, researchers, and medical
doctors attended the course, where they spent 5 intensive days
learning how to effectively write and submit a scientific
Visit our new
manuscript. Throughout the week, participants wrote and revised
database of
their manuscripts in preparation for submission for publication
workshops on
to scientific journals. Because of the success of the manuscript
our website!
workshop, Dr. Ovalle organized a second SSI grant
proposal-writing workshop that took place in September www.sustainablesciences.org
2015.
SCIENTIFIC IMPACT
PAHO Collaboration
SSI signed a 5-year cooperation agreement with the
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to
strengthen the promotion of scientific and
technological development in Latin America and the
Caribbean. This collaboration will focus on human
resource capacity building, informatics support, and
increasing the regional capacity for infectious disease
surveillance, detection, and control. The agreement
was signed by SSI’s president, Dr. Eva Harris, and Dr.
Socorro Gross Galiano, PAHO Country Representative
in Nicaragua, on behalf of Dr. Carissa Etienne,
Director of PAHO in Washington, D.C.
10-Year Anniversary & Scientific Symposium
On May 22, SSI-Nicaragua celebrated its 10th
Anniversary and held its Annual Scientific
Symposium with the Nicaraguan Ministry of
Health. The event included presentations on
dengue, influenza, chikungunya, and ICT
projects, followed by a celebratory luncheon
where SSI-Nicaragua staff and collaborators
were recognized. SSI’s President, Dr. Eva
Harris, Executive Director, Dr. Josefina
Coloma, Scientific Director, Dr. Maria Elena
Peñaranda, and long-time SSI collaborator
and workshop instructor, Alejandro Belli,
participated in the special occasion.
Publications
SSI supported dozens of researchers around
the world in writing and submitting their
research for publication in 2015. Our own
researchers and collaborators had a number
of articles published in a wide range of
top-notch journals, spanning topics in
immunology,
virology,
epidemiology,
informatics, community-based participatory
prevention of disease outbreaks, and the
politics of health equity. See the full archive
of our publications on the SSI website!
www.sustainablesciences.org
The British Medical Journal
Your Support is Crucial!
The need for strong public health institutions around the globe was poignantly highlighted
this year by several high-profile infectious disease outbreaks, including the battle to control
Ebola in West Africa and the race to diagnose and contain the chikungunya epidemic in the
Western Hemisphere, with nearly 2 million suspected infections in the Americas since the
start of the outbreak in late 2013.
At the Sustainable Sciences Institute, we believe that for new technologies to fulfill their
potential for improving health outcomes and the well-being of all, their design and
implementation need to include neglected communities and populations. Our technology
development and implementation model has a user-centric design with local experts,
creators, and communities of end-users working together to ensure that the technology is
implemented sustainably and equitably.
SSI and partners have dedicated the last 17+ years to reducing
barriers for local scientific and public health researchers and
frontline health workers to access the knowledge, tools, resources,
and support networks they need to effectively battle priority
diseases at the local level. We have also increasingly engaged in
advocacy for more equitable and sustainable approaches to locally
managed global health research.
Of course, we cannot do this work alone, and we hope that you
will continue to support our mission. Your donations enable us to
increase our reach and impact, strengthening and extending the
work of scientists where science is needed most in the fight to
improve global health and health equity.
- Josefina Coloma, PhD (Executive Director)
OPERATING BUDGET
Capacity
Building
3%
Influenza
Nicaragua
23%
• HHS grants (50%)
• private foundations (46%)
• federal contracts (2%)
F&A
ICT
10%
SSI's funding comes from a range of sources:
Dengue
Nicaragua
40%
• individual donors (1%)
15%
• non-federal contracts (1%)
9%
Hep C Egypt
2015 Total: $1,940,568
Please help us
grow our
individual donor
base!
www.facebook.com/sustainablesciences
Board of Directors & Staff
Eva Harris, PhD, President
Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases & Vaccinology,
School of Public Health
University of California, Berkeley
Adil Ed Wakil, MD, Vice-President
Associate Chief, Division of Hepatology
California Pacific Medical Center
P. Robert Beatty, PhD, Secretary
Lecturer/Assistant Researcher
University of California, Berkeley
Jonathan Cronander, Treasurer
Chief Financial Officer
OrderSmart.com
Lisa Danzig, MD
Vice President, Clinical Development and Medical Affairs
PaxVax, Inc.
Jane L. Grogan, PhD
Senior Scientist
Genentech
James Larrick, MD, PhD
Managing Director, Panorama Research Institute & Velocity
Pharmaceutical Development
Stephen Popper, DSc
Senior Research Scientist
Stanford University School of Medicine
Sondra Schlesinger, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Washington University
School of Medicine
N. Ewen Wang, MD
Associate Professor
Associate Director, Pediatric Emergency
Stanford University School of Medicine
SSI CALIFORNIA
Josefina Coloma, Executive Director
Maria Elena Peñaranda, Scientific Director
Marlon Buitrago, Senior Accountant
Katie Marker, Project Manager
Mary Masland, Grants Manager
Alberto Murillo, Bookkeeper & Webmaster
SSI EGYPT
Mar-Jan Ostrowski, Egypt Program Coordinator
Mohamed Sobhy, Hepatitis C Program Coordinator
Hayam Abdel Azim, Administrative Assistant
Mustafa Rateb, Accountant
SSI NICARAGUA
Lionel Gresh, Project Coordinator and On-site Director
Aubree Gordon, Influenza Program Director
Heather Zornetzer, ICT for Health Program Director
William Avilés, Director of Informatics
Mirtha Monterrey, Head Administrator
Angel Balmaseda, Director, Nicaraguan Virology Program
Guillermina Kuan, Site Coordinator, C/S Socrates Flores V.
Andrea Núñez, Quality Control Officer
SSI Champions
Major Donors
Bruce and Betty Alberts, Jon Freeman, Eva Harris, Russell G. Higuchi & Barbara M.
Krummel, Jim Larrick, Ichiro Matsumura, Arthur B. Pardee & Ann B. Goodman,
Stephen Popper, Ellen Prager, Naomi Sager, Milton & Sondra Schlesinger, Edmond
Schonberg
Individual Donors
Assad Abidon Hassoun, P. Robert Beatty & Gabriel Viera, Jennifer Berline, Vicki
Breman, Barbara Coen, Josefina Coloma & Dan F. Zeiger, Juan Enrique Coloma, Luz
Elena Coloma, Jonathan & Mary Cronander, Susan Dapson, Linda D’Ari, Randy &
Patricia Davis, Maria Isabel Escobar, Bill Fernald, William & Leslie Gitlin, Eva Gold &
Joshua Markel, Ellen Goode, Barrie & Ralph Gonzalez, Rosamund Grady, Thomas L.
Hall, James Healy, Christopher L. Henley, James Holston, Jane Koehler, Katie Marker,
Mary Masland, Stan Metzenberg, Alberto G. Murillo, Mark Pallansch, Cristhian Parra,
Maria Elena Peñaranda, Silvia Peñaranda, David Rider, Dmitiri Skjorshammer, Harvey
L. Smith, Jose A. Villafana, Ed and Lori Wakil, Dr. & Mrs. Salih Wakil, Keith Yamamoto
Foundation, Corporate, & Institutional Support
Asociación de Investigatión, Desarrollo y Educación Integral (IDEO), Guatemala; The
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
Centro Dermatológico Federico Lleras Acosta; Colorado State University;
Conservation, Food and Health Foundation; CRDF Global; Ibrahim El-Hefni Technical
Training Foundation; Instituto Carlos Slim de la Salud; National Institutes of Health
(NIH); NIH-National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Disease (NIAID)-Center of
Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS)-St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital; NIH-National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Disease
(NIAID)-Human Immunology Project Consortium (Icahn School of Medicine at Mt.
Sinai and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology); NIH-NIAID-International
Collaborations in Infectious Disease Research (ICIDR); NIH-NIAID-International
Research in Infectious Diseases, including AIDS (IRIDA); NIH-National Institute of
Allergy & Infectious Disease (NIAID)-Small Business Innovation Research (Sevident);
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO); Stanford University; UBS Optimus
Foundation; United States Agency for International Development (USAID);
Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, Panama (SENACYT);
Universidad de las Américas, Quito; Universidad de San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador;
University of California at Berkeley; University of California at San Francisco;
University of Michigan
Dedicated Volunteers & Contributors
Ella August, Alejandro Belli, Sabrina Bolus, Dana Brock, Alejandra Castillo, Armando
E. Castillo, Otoniel Cortéz, Luz Graciela Cruz, Joe Eisenberg, Nawras Farhan, Diana
Flores, Val Fong, Kian Hojati, Jafet Ortíz, Tania Romero Gonzalez, Haider Sabah
Kadhim, Cheri Sirois, Annelisa Synnestvedt, Gabriel Viera, Wonderful Wright
Sustainable
Sciences
Institute
Sustainable Sciences Institute (SSI) – Established 1998
870 Market Street, Suite 764, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
sustainablesciences.org | [email protected]
Tel: +1-415-772-0939
SSI Nicaragua – Established 2004
Instituto de Ciencias Sostenibles, Centro de Salud Socrates Flores Vivas,
Barrio Monseñor Lezcano, Managua, Nicaragua | Tel/Fax: +505-2254-7266
SSI Egypt – Established 2011
7 Amr Ben Alass Street, First Floor #1, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
National Liver Institute, Menofiya University, Shiben El Kom, Menofiya, Egypt