Mentoring Africa's Next Generation

Mentoring Africa's Next Generation

Dr. David Meya is one of the promising young Africans enrolled in Accordia’s Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at the Infectious Diseases Institute in Uganda. Accordia began this program in 2003 to provide an opportunity for young African doctors to specialize in infectious diseases, a critical area where training was lacking. As part of this exciting program, David is now practicing medicine in the area of infectious diseases and learning how to carry out clinical research aimed at improving the lives of his fellow Africans.

Dr. Meya recently shared with us his experience as part of this program and the impact this opportunity has had on his career.

My association with the IDI goes back to the year 2002 when I had the privilege of attending the first training course for African doctors in HIV care and prevention that was organized by the Infectious Diseases Institute and the Academic Alliance.

Subsequently I did my Masters in Internal Medicine at the Mulago Medical School and again I met up with Academic Alliance members Professor Allan Ronald and Professor Merle Sande. Dr. Sande and Dr. Ronald inspired my interest in infectious diseases. They were instrumental, together with all the other Academic Alliance members who have played a very great mentoring role, in getting scholars interested in infectious diseases here in Uganda.

For some reason, in many tropical countries, people who trained generally as doctors or healthcare workers were assumed to know all about infectious diseases. But the truth is we were not receiving specialized training in this area. Infectious diseases present in a very complicated manner and specific training in this area before the IDI was founded at Makerere University was lacking.

Today, IDI and Accordia are making tremendous strides in changing the way we address the challenges of infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. I am now in my second year of the Infectious Disease Fellowship Program and it has been a great experience. I have been able to learn a lot about clinical research and patient care. In addition I have been exposed to the latest research through participation in international meetings that I attend with fellowship support. This has opened my eyes to a number of new ideas and has allowed me to meet a lot of international infectious disease specialists that I am now starting to collaborate with on clinical research projects here at the IDI and Mulago Hospital.

IDI is a place where young African scientists have the opportunity to learn how to face infectious disease epidemics in our own local settings. There are many great schools in Europe and North America, but why should Africans go abroad to learn about tropical medicine when we bear the greatest burden of infectious diseases here in our local communities?

I envision the IDI becoming a place where people from developed countries will come to train in tropical medicine. My career objective is to become a clinician educator and an independent clinical researcher based at the Infectious Diseases Institute and Mulago Hospital. I envision this Infections Disease Fellowship as a great opportunity afforded me by Accordia Global Health Foundation to practice medicine in the area of infectious diseases, and to be able to learn and carry out clinical research aimed at improving the lives of our people.

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