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Dr Abdulazeez Imam, a Research Clinician with the Vaccines and Immunity Theme of the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at LSHTM, has been awarded a highly competitive Oxford Health System Research Collaboration (OHSCAR) Prize Studentship to study for a PhD in Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford, UK.

Dr Imam completed his Medical Degree at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria and did his postgraduate clinical training in Paediatrics at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, obtaining a Fellowship of the West African College of Physicians. Dr Imam also holds an MSc in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Leeds, UK.

He joined the MRCG at LSHTM in August 2017, on the HIPC study, working under Prof. Beate Kampmann. In the last 18 months, he has worked on the MENACYWX (Men5) phase 3 clinical trial.

For his PhD in Oxford University, Dr Imam will quantitatively evaluate changes in newborn quality of care and neonatal outcomes following workforce interventions in selected newborn units in Kenya, under the Harnessing Innovations in Global Health for Quality Care (HIGH-Q) project. The HIGH-Q project is a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya. His supervisory team will be led by Professor Mike English from the University of Oxford and Dr David Gathara, Assistant Professor of Health Systems at LSHTM.

Reacting to this opportunity, Dr Imam said, “I have always known that I wanted to further my academic career by doing a PhD; I just never knew the ‘how’. Prof Kampmann and a few others at the MRCG at LSHTM were highly instrumental in filling these gaps, either through their advice or by being role models. My journey through the Unit has been one of immense growth. If you had told me three years ago that I would be going to Oxford for a PhD, I would probably not have believed it then, but here I am.”

Prof Beate Kampmann Theme Leader for Vaccines and Immunity said, “I am delighted for Dr Imam who has worked hard towards this opportunity. His PhD project builds nicely on his experience in research here at the Unit and on his skills and passion as a paediatrician to improve the outcomes of neonatal care. He will be working in partnership with KEMRI and LSHTM, and I am sure he will remain in touch through this shared research interest.”

The Oxford Health Systems Research Collaboration (OHSCAR) is working towards strengthening Health Systems Research with low and middle income country collaborators. It aims to enable scientists from Oxford to create new knowledge with LMIC colleagues and build capacity in global health systems research while promoting the bi-directional transfer of knowledge between Oxford and LMIC.