Johns hopkins university Spotlight

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has been a partner in RePORT International’s efforts since the network’s inception in 2014, having served as a foundational member of both RICC and of RePORT India, one of RICC’s first and most robust country-level research efforts.

“Our team at JHU was involved in the consortium early on,”

said Dr. Amita Gupta, who is a RePORT International EC Co-Chair, the US EC Chair of RePORT India, Florence Sabin Professor of Infectious Diseases, and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Alongside JIPMER (Puducherry, India), JHU serves as Co-Hub for the RePORT India consortium, which comprises 9 India-based research sites and 7 U.S. academic research institutions. The consortium’s mission is to advance TB science, strengthen TB research, capacity, and infrastructure, and foster scientific collaboration. Leveraging 10 years of specimen and data collection, research infrastructure, and scientific partnerships established by RePORT India in Phase I, the consortium is completing the science in Phase II, and shifting to Phase 2b, where the focus is publishing scientific findings and highlighting local Indian scientists and partnering organizations.

Research Capacity Strengthening Is Expanded Focus in Phase 2b

With Phase 2, JHU has expanded its focus with a dedicated effort on capacity strengthening for RePORT International. Dr. Robert Bollinger—Raj and Kamla Gupta Professor of Infectious Diseases at the JHU School of Medicine, former Fogarty International Research Program Director and a renowned researcher and global health educator—was tapped to serve as Director of RICC’s Research Capacity Strengthening Program and Mary Talalay is the Research Capacity Strengthening Manager. “The Capacity Strengthening Program is not only critical for existing TB researchers,” said Bollinger, “it’s intended to expand the cadre of experts working in TB research.”

The new Capacity Strengthening Working Group, led by Bollinger, is charged with developing and evaluating two courses each year for RePORT International faculty and staff and for other TB researchers around the world. In the first year, two hybrid courses, Epidemiology for Tuberculosis and Professional Development for Researchers, were offered and then later reformatted as asynchronistic offerings to allow for broader reach. Plans are currently underway for Year 2 courses. As Bollinger explained, “the more people that are trained to confront the challenges of TB, the better our odds are for identifying regionalized challenges, and developing solutions that move us toward global change.”

Additionally, a two-year, faculty mentored RICC Post-doctoral Fellowship Program has been established, and four fellows were selected: Beatriz Barreto (RePORT Brazil), Mandar Paradkar (RePORT India), Felipe Ridolfi (RePORT Brazil), and Sumedha Sharma (RePORT India, due to a recent job change, Dr. Sharma has discontinued the fellowship). Fellows have been immersed in course offerings and attended the annual RePORT International meeting in Brazil in August 2024.

Additional JHU Tuberculosis Focus

In addition to Johns Hopkins’ efforts with RePORT International, the team is working with the USAID-supported SMART4TB program and has developed and shared its ESI Training Program coursework, as well as researcher resources. The synergy between these two programs has added value for all members.