Clinician Scientist, Dr Toyin Togun has been offered a postdoctoral position at McGill University, Montreal, Canada to further develop his research in the area of Tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics and biomarkers. This postdoctoral position at the McGill International TB Centre, which is famous globally for its interdisciplinary TB research, will, in addition, be supported by the highly competitive 2016/2017 Steinberg Global Health Postdoctoral Fellowship grant at McGill University, which has also been awarded to Dr Togun. The Steinberg fellowship will facilitate a mentored research career development experience to gain skills in clinical validation of promising biomarkers, conduct of validation trials in diverse settings, and a better understanding of how to translate basic science research into potential diagnostic tools. Dr Togun’s professional background is in clinical medicine, with a keen interest in implementation science focused on the discovery and practical application of novel immunological tools to improve the diagnosis and management of TB in children. Dr Togun’s research has produced several first-author publications, including two book chapters and a patent recently filed with MRC. He has also co-authored several publications and presented at major international conferences.

Over the years, Dr Togun has been successful in winning a number of prestigious and competitive Awards. In 2005, he completed a Master of Science degree in Public Health in Developing Countries at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine as a winner of a highly competitive World Bank Postgraduate Scholarship. In April 2012, Toyin was awarded MRCG-funded Clinical Research PhD Training Fellowship in Life and Biomolecular Sciences, with The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. He successfully completed a research leadership development programme jointly organised by the MRC Unit The Gambia and Vitae (UK) in 2014. In December 2015, Dr Togun won the prestigious ‘MRCG Director’s Award for Research Leader of Tomorrow’.

When asked to comment, Prof Beat Kampmann said,“ Dr Togun was my first PhD student graduating under my supervision, since I started my position as the Theme Leader for Vaccines & Immunity here at MRC Unit The Gambia. I am absolutely delighted that he has been offered the postdoctoral opportunities in one of the best TB groups in Canada. I am pleased to say that we will be able to work collaboratively on further projects in childhood TB, and although we will be very sad to see Toyin move on from our immediate group, this is absolutely the right next step in Toyin’s research career towards becoming an independent investigator. My mentorship role will no doubt continue as long as it is of use to Toyin, and I look forward to all the future achievements.”

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