PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: For more than 15 years, the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHV-Nigeria or IHVN) has partnered with the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland Baltimore (IHV-UMB) to train Nigerian researchers both locally and in the US. This has resulted in 51 Masters and PhD-holders engaged in HIV research and leadership careers at IHVN’s International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE) and at collaborating universities and institutions throughout Nigeria. IRCE was established in 2015 to drive IHV- Nigeria’s research mission: to increase the volume, quality, and capacity for research in Nigeria and West Africa. To harness their prior training and exponentially increase their impact, it is imperative to mature these early (trained) investigators into independent (skilled) investigators. In addition, it is important for Nigerian public health programs that implementers and policymakers have complementary program evaluation and knowledge translation skills, to address HIV and other health priorities and gaps. The focus of this submission is to expand local expertise in responding to Nigeria’s HIV epidemic by addressing research leadership gaps among investigators, and program evaluation and knowledge translation gaps among implementers and policymakers. The proposed Expanding the Pool of Independent Investigators in Implementation Science in Nigeria through HIV research training (EXPAND Nigeria) has four specific aims. Specific Aim 1: To launch a 12- month, implementation science design-integrated HIV research training curriculum at IRCE, delivered on a hybrid virtual and in-person platform. Specific Aim 2: To mentor and develop a cohort of five early career MD and/or PhD-holding scientists trained with the Aim 1 curriculum, to compete for independent research funding that addresses HIV research priorities relevant to Nigeria. Specific Aim 3: To transition skilled early career investigators from Aim 2 into active and productive research positions at IRCE and collaborating academic and public health institutions in Nigeria. Specific Aim 4: Using the hard skills subset of modules from the Aim 1 curriculum, to provide short-term, six-month training for a multidisciplinary cohort of 40 program implementers and policymakers, to design and conduct priority HIV program evaluations and translate findings into policy and practice. Outcomes of the proposal include a scalable training curriculum addressing local research capacity and skills gaps; skilled researchers in a supportive environment that launches and keeps them in a research trajectory; and institutional research leadership successfully transitioned from IHV-UMB to IHV-Nigeria, with IHV-UMB remaining as a long-term training and research partner.

PROJECT NARRATIVE The proposed Expanding the Pool of Independent Investigators in Implementation Science in Nigeria through HIV Research training (EXPAND Nigeria) project will focus on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) in the area of HIV and implementation research in Nigeria. We aim to develop a flexible, locally-tailored research curriculum incorporating hard and soft skill-building for postdoctoral early career investigators to attain research independence, and imparts program evaluation and knowledge translation skills to program implementers and policymakers, for high-level impact on RMNCAH gaps in Nigeria’s HIV program. EXPAND Nigeria’s scalable curriculum and mentoring approach address both independent research and programmatic capacity gaps, towards attaining sustainability for HIV research/research funding, and for high-level programmatic competencies.