My Grant Writing Journey | Geoffrey Kangogo
My grant writing journey started several years ago after I cleared high school and secured a university admission to pursue a course in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
During my undergraduate, one of the common courses which were mandatory for all undergraduate students was SPH 2111 HIV/AIDS. This course was intended to highlight the consequences of engaging in any reckless behavior in the university since the risk of acquiring HIV infection was very high, especially within the capital city of Nairobi, Kenya, and neighboring metropolitan areas. By the end of the semester, I found great interest in understanding more on why HIV/AIDS is a major public health concern. I was very interested in the topic and even keep studying more on its etiology, viral structure, management, and major routes of transmission. This would be important since I would end up sharing this HIV knowledge to the other members of my family and friends who are not aware of the disease. By then, there was little information on its management coupled with high stigmatization to be endured by those who were exposed and accidentally identified in the community. As I continued with my studies, there was a mandatory requirement for all students to undergo a necessary internship of 3 months before they were allowed to graduate. At this point, I had several options ranging from pharmaceutical companies, industries, research intuitions, and hospital among others. In this scenario, I settled on attending my internship in one of the largest referral hospitals near my hometown city. This was partly driven by my motivation and passion to be in an institution responsible for protecting and promoting the health of the people in the community.
Fast forward, I successfully graduated with my undergraduate degree, and it was time to apply for employment opportunities and be an independent person. Luckily, I got a job offer to work in a pharmaceutical company a few weeks after my graduation. In this role, I was assigned to specific regions of Western Kenya visiting healthcare providers like physicians, medical officers, clinical officers, pharmacists and nurses at various hospitals. This further exposed me to different healthcare settings where I was engaging with healthcare providers and their patients on various medical products for the management of infectious diseases specifically HIV and Malaria, which are highly prevalent in those regions. I could see patients waiting in long queues to see doctors, children being immunized, a hospital without clinicians, hospitals closed due to industrial action due low salaries, and patients being misdiagnosed due to poor laboratory testing among other challenges facing the public health sector of Kenya. All these exposures further gravitated my interests towards public health research to probably understand well the various factors that determine population health and even propose substantial interventions and health policies based on scientific evidence.
The most significant stretch in my grant writing journey came when the African Union wanted to support young scientists with master’s scholarships in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the continent of Africa who will be able to support public health interventions in their home countries. The key requirement for the application was to develop a short 3-page proposal of potential research interest with a clearly defined budget for all the research activities to be done. In this application, I believe my proposed research “story” from what I had observed in various healthcare settings was substantial enough and convincing to be funded, and this might have been the tip of the iceberg of what grant writing could offer.
Lastly, the final sprint toward my grant writing, happened when I joined Kenya’s Ministry of Health at the National Public Health Institute. In this role, I was tasked to support molecular epidemiology work involving molecular surveillance of HIV treatment failure in addition to other STIs like Syphilis and gonorrhea. I used to be a team member in various national HIV surveys where I interacted with various scientists including epidemiologists, biostatisticians, public health experts, medical personnel, activists, PLWH, all contributing to the various public health interventions done within our institution. In Kenya, HIV research is a collaborative work involving various national and global partners like US CDC, PEPFAR, Clinton Healthcare Access Initiate, UoM, Global Fund, UCSF among other development partners who regularly offer short grants to support HIV research in specific novel areas which are in line with their operation plan. It’s at this point that I contributed with my colleagues to apply for a Global Fund grant to support HIV molecular surveillance through HIV drug resistance testing in our institution. From this little experience of requesting for funds and completing detailed excel sheets with several budget items, I learned that a specific realistic outcome has to be clearly stated based on a realistic quantifyable output. It was also important to mention that active surveillance will not only be for HIV, but also for TB and Malaria which was in line with what the Global Fund supports. This point came to pass during my grant writing class, that, it was very important to understand the areas of interest of the funding institution you intend to apply for a grant.
It is at this point, that I decided to pursue my PhD study in Public Health Studies with Epidemiology concentration and hopefully contribute more to the management of infectious diseases especially HIV in Kenya and globally. The grant writing course has so far provided me with expert knowledge on how to organize and present a story professionally. It has further enlightened me on the need to work with a team for a successful grant application with clear objectives and outcomes for the proposal. Therefore, my interest in the grant writing course has increased since I will be competent enough to write a competitive grant to any institution and hopefully secure funding to support the wide array of public health research. In conclusion, I believe this grant writing course will play a key role in advancing my research as I strive to improve the health of our communities.
“It is better to learn what you don’t know.” — Anonymous quote
