Fellowship Site Directors: Dr. Blandina Mmbaga, Director of the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute

Site Contact:  Blandina Mmbaga  b.mmbaga@kcri.ac.tz 

Link to research site’s website:  https://www.kcri.ac.tz/ 

Site Specialties:

HIV

Population and Reproductive Health

Non-Communicable Diseases

Mental Health

Site Description:

KCMC is located on a 480-acre campus in Moshi Town, Tanzania, 8 kilometers from town center. The KCMC complex houses a 670 bed hospital, outpatient departments that attend to more than 500 patients per day, a central library, administrative offices, dormitories, and housing for international visitors. KCMC was established in 1971 as a Zonal Referral Consulting Hospital for the northern regions of Tanzania (Arusha, Dodoma, Kilimanjaro, Singida, and Tanga). It is operated jointly by the Ministry of Health of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Good Samaritan Foundation, an ecumenical non-governmental organization. KCMC is one of four zonal referral hospitals in Tanzania, and has a catchment population of 15,000,000 persons. 

In 2009, the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) was established to formally house research efforts within KCMC and the KCMC Medical College. The three entities have complementary roles in achieving their mission; healing (KCMC), training (KCMC Medical College), and research (KCRI). The vision of KCRI is to be an internationally recognized center of excellence in health research, embedded in the academic medical setting of KCMC, the Tanzanian health care system, and connected to international research networks. KCRI provides research training, necessary research infrastructure, and logistical support for KCMC and Medical College investigators and their collaborating partners. KCRI hosts both investigator-initiated single site studies in addition to being a member of multiple consortia such as MCDC, PanAcea, EACCR, ESCCAPE and EDCTP, ICIDR, and the TB Alliance. KCRI has collaborations with other international universities including Duke University, University of Virginia, the University of Glasgow, the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and St. Andrew’s in the UK, and St. Radboud University in the Netherlands.