This Site and Investigator Spotlight introduces Dr. Lucas Tina, who is affiliated with the Victoria Biomedical Research Institute (VIBRI) and Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Kisumu, Kenya. Dr. Tina serves as a Scientific Advisory Expert for FHI Clinical, and VIBRI and KEMRI are listed in FHI Clinical’s database of research sites, and we are currently working with the sites on vaccine studies for pneumonia, malaria drug trials, tuberculosis surveillance and investigating the outcomes of sepsis.
Dr. Tina and VIBRI were spotlighted in April 2023, and all information on this page is current as of then.
ABOUT DR. TINAABOUT VIBRIABOUT KENYA’S HEALTH PRIORITIES
About Dr. Tina
- Director and Lead Principal Investigator, VIBRI
- Deputy Director, Clinical Operations and Physician Investigator, KEMRI/WRP
Dr. Lucas Tina is a physician investigator with 20 years of experience in clinical research for vaccines and therapeutics, public health and epidemiology. He is currently the Director and Lead Principal Investigator (PI) at VIBRI, a non-profit organization based in Kenya. He also works with KEMRI-WRP as a Clinical Research Scientist. He is a Director and Scientific Advisor at ACE Research, a Pan-African clinical research organization (CRO), and serves as a Scientific Advisory Expert for FHI Clinical.
Dr. Tina has been a clinical investigator and leader in several successful drug and vaccine trials including the multi-center, multi-country, Phase 3 RTS, S malaria vaccine trial in Africa. He is currently the Project Lead/Investigator Sponsor for a Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)-funded, multi-country, Phase 2b COVID-19 vaccine trial currently taking place in Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is also the PI in a Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial in Kenya and the PI in the “Safety and Efficacy Experimental Medicine Trial of the RTS,S/AS01 Malaria Vaccine in Combination with Antimalarials.” He has been an investigator and scientific leader in several highly successful therapeutic and vaccine trials in disease areas including malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, pneumonia, polio, sickle cell disease, diarrhea, Ebola and malnutrition.
Some of the highlights from his career include the clinical trial on the artemether-lumefantrine (COARTEM®) pediatric dispersible tablet, which resulted in regulatory approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and regulatory authorities in Africa, and the world’s first malaria vaccine (RTS,S/AS01), which received a positive scientific opinion from the EMA through WHO article 58 and has been recommended for use after undergoing WHO pilot implementation in Africa.
Dr. Tina has been the lead author and co-author of several peer-reviewed publications in prestigious medical journals. Over the years, he has participated in scientific meetings, workshops and conferences including the Pan-African MIM Conference and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) conference. He is a member of ASTMH and a member of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP). Dr. Tina has been the recipient of several awards including the Charles C. Shepard Award and the Brian Sharp Award.
He completed his medical training at Moi University School of Medicine and earned an MSc in Public Health in Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is also an ADVAC (Advanced Course of Vaccinology) Fellow from the Fondation Mérieux and the Université de Genève. He is committed to strengthening community mobilization, education, awareness and involvement in research to improve community health.
Dr. Tina’s
- Baseline incidence of meningitis, malaria, mortality and other health outcomes in infants and young sub-Saharan African children prior to the introduction of the RTS,S/AS01E malaria vaccine. Malaria Journal. April 2021.
Clinical laboratory hematology reference values among infants aged 1month to 17 months in Kombewa Sub-County, Kisumu: A cross sectional study of rural population in Western Kenya
. PLoS One. March 2021- Clinical laboratory reference values in adults in Kisumu County, Western Kenya; hematology, chemistry and CD4. PLoS One. March 2021
- False reactive HIV-1 diagnostic test results in an individual from Kenya on multiple testing platforms-A case report. IDCases. December 2020
- Estimating annual fluctuations in malaria transmission intensity and in the use of malaria control interventions in five Sub-Saharan African countries. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. November 2020
- Safety and immunogenicity of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine in infants and children identified as HIV-infected during a randomized trial in sub-Saharan Africa. Vaccine January 2020
- Long-term incidence of severe malaria following RTS,S/AS01 vaccination in children and infants in Africa: an open-label 3-year extension study of a phase 3 randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. July 2019
- Safety profile of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine in infants and children: additional data from a phase III randomized controlled trial in sub-Saharan Africa. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics. October 2018
- A spatiotemporal analysis of HIV-associated mortality in rural Western Kenya 2011-2015. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. August 2018
- Host-mediated selection impacts the diversity of Plasmodium falciparum antigens within infections. Nature Communications. April 2018.
- Cause-specific mortality in the Kombewa health and demographic surveillance systems site, rural Western Kenya from 2011-2015. Global Health Action. February 2018
- Longitudinal estimation of Plasmodium falciparum prevalence in relation to malaria prevention measures in six sub-Saharan African countries. Malaria Journal. October 2017
- Questioning effectiveness of vaccines against malaria-Authors’ reply. Lancet Infectious Diseases. January 2017.
- Safety and immunogenicity of RTS, S/AS01 in infants and children with WHO Stage 1 or 2 HIV disease: a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Lancet Infectious Diseases. July 2016
- Adenovirus type 35-vectored tuberculosis vaccine has an acceptable safety and tolerability profile in healthy, BCG-vaccinated, QuantiFERON(®)-TB Gold (+) Kenyan adults without evidence of tuberculosis. Vaccine. May 2016
- Immunogenicity of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine and implications for duration of vaccine efficacy: secondary analysis of data from a phase 3 randomised controlled trial. Lancet Infectious Diseases. December 2015
- Genetic diversity and protective efficacy of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine. New England Journal of Medicine. November 2015
- Ferroquine and Artesunate in African adults and children with Plasmodium falciparum malaria: a phase 2, multicentre, randomised double-blind, dose-ranging, non-inferiority study. Lancet Infectious Diseases. September 2015
- Efficacy and safety of RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine with or without a booster dose in infants and children in Africa: final results of a phase 3, individually randomised, controlled trial. The Lancet. April, 2015
- Efficacy and safety of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine during 18 months after vaccination: a phase 3 randomized, controlled trial in children and young infants at 11 African sites. PLoS Medicine. July 2014
- Health & demographic surveillance system profile: the Kombewa Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Kombewa HDSS). International Journal of Epidemiology. July 2014
- Efficacy and safety of artemether-lumefantrine and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine in the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Kenyan children aged less than five years: results of an open-label, randomized, single-centre study. Malaria Journal. January 2014
- Results from tandem Phase 1 studies evaluating the safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate antigen Plasmodium falciparum FVO merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP142) administered intramuscularly with adjuvant system AS01. Malaria Journal. January 2013
About VIBRI
- Founded in 2020
- Non-profit African health research institute with a network of clinical trial sites focusing on vaccine, drug, and device research for major global diseases
- Mission: deliver high-quality health research relevant to Africa and to strengthen health system capacity for undertaking research and providing access to quality health services
- Clinical trials and adaptive trial design for Phase 1-4 trials in both outpatient and inpatient healthcare settings
- Bioequivalence studies
- Epidemiology and population health
- Data science and statistics
- Implementation science and programs, including monitoring and evaluation, operations research and impact evaluation
- Training and capacity building to develop African research leadership
- Malaria
- HIV
- Tuberculosis
- Pneumonia
- Diarrheal diseases
- Emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola, COVID-19, Rift Valley fever
- Asthma
- Cardiovascular diseases (e.g., hypertension)
- Endocrinology, including diabetes mellitus
- Maternal health
- Mental health
- Oncology
- Sickle cell disease
The disease profile of Kenya
HIV
cause of death
4%
prevalence of HIV among those aged 15-49 years
26%
of new infections affect adolescents and young people (15-24 years)
Malaria
cases of malaria in 2020
~75%
of the population at risk of malaria infection
49%
reduction in malaria burden between 2010 and 2020
Diarrheal diseases
cause of death
15%
prevalence in children <5 years old in 2014
Diabetes mellitus
increase in number of deaths caused from 2009 to 2019
4%
prevalence of diagnosed diabetes mellitus
~44%
proportion of people with undiagnosed diabetes mellitus
Cardiovascular disease
increase in number of deaths caused by ischemic heart disease from 2009 to 2019
~14%
of all deaths in 2019 caused by cardiovascular disease
https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/HIV_prevention_fact_sheet_2022.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9
https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/Kenya_Malaria_factsheet.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/globalhivtb/where-we-work/kenya/kenya.html
https://d1u4sg1s9ptc4z.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/04/Kenya_PMI-Fact-Sheet-InCountry_FY2021_CP-1.pdf
https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)30061-8/fulltext
https://diabetesatlas.org/data/en/country/104/ke.html
https://world-heart-federation.org/wp-content/uploads/Kenya-Country-Report.pdf
