Global health research - Kent and Medway Medical School

Global health is one of the research strands at KMMS. Current global health projects are funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Our aim is to improve the health and wellbeing of communities in resource-poor settings. KMMS researchers are working in areas of mental health, leishmaniasis and non-communicable diseases in several countries in the Global South, including in Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The global health research group at KMMS is led by Professor Lisa Dikomitis. Externally funded global health research studies led by or with involvement of KMMS researchers:

• ECLIPSE, funded by NIHR (Professor Dikomitis is Co-Principal Investigator) £4,576,819
• SOLACE, funded by GCRF AHRC-MRC (Professor Dikomitis is Principal Investigator) £199,840
• GHR SPARC, funded by NIHR (Dr Brianne Wenning is Principal Investigator) £8000
• THEHOPE, funded by MRC (Professor Dikomitis is Co-Investigator, led by Professor Farooq at Keele University) £873,269
• STOPS+, funded by MRC (Professor Dikomitis is Co-Investigator, led by Professor Farooq at Keele University) £564,784
• New anti-leishmanial drugs for Indian Communities, funded by EPSRC (Professor Dikomitis is Co-Investigator, led by Professor Steel at Durham University) £906,252

KMMS involvement with global health research initiatives and funders

Professor Lisa Dikomitis is member of the MRC Applied Global Health Research Board (since 2020), the NIHR Global Health Research Groups Committee (March 2021), the NIHR Global Health Right 4 Committee (February 2022) and the Wellcome Social Sciences Early-Career Advisory Group (since 2021). Professor Dikomitis chaired the NIHR Global Health Research Training Task & Finish Group for mentoring (2021-22) and is Guest Editor of a Special Issue on Global Health for Social Sciences (2021-22)

Professor Sukhi Shergill is member of the Clinical and Public Health Selection Committee of the Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance (since 2019). Professor Shergill is also collaborator at the Clinical Research Center for Neuromodulation in Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in India. The Center is funded by the Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance.

Dr Brianne Wenning is a reviewer for the pilot of the NIHR’s Global Health Community Engagement and Involvement (CEI) Community of Practice. She evaluates and provides feedback on the CEI components of grants submitted to the NIHR Global Health funding schemes.

Recent publications:

Mota et al – The social production of health policies and institutional neglect (2022)

Gunasekara et al- Placing leishmaniasis in the limelight surveillance system (2022)

Khattak et al – Experiences of oral cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan (2022)

Wright et al – Burnout among primary health-care professionals in LMICs (2022)

Polidano et al – Community engagement in cutaneous leishmaniasis research (2022)

Hicky et al – Community and public engagement in global health research (2022)

Tembo et al – Effective engagement and involvement with community stakeholders in co-production in global health research (2021)