Advancing global clinical research partnerships: EVI attends LSHTM Annual Trials Day 2025 and Visits MRC Gambia Clinical Sites
- EVI
- Nov 5
- 3 min read
The European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) participated in the 3rd edition of the Annual Trials’ Day, hosted by the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia (MRCG) at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in collaboration with the LSHTM, U. of London, MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit.
04 November 2025
This one-day LSHTM Trials Day event brought together researchers, students, and experts from around the world, together with international and local partners. It provided a unique platform for showcasing work, exchanging insights, and exploring current challenges in clinical trial design and delivery.
EVI’s involvement underscored our commitment to strengthening vaccine research capacity, fostering collaboration across diverse research hubs, and sharing our expertise in trial delivery.
EVI’s Senior Clinical Project Manager Dr. Souyet Chang Rodriguez was a key speaker in the conference, providing insights into how EVI seeks to collaborate with and empower African partners in the shifting clinical vaccine research landscape.
This year’s programme also included from featured speakers from Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF) and MRCG. The presentations covered topics such as trial design, changing funding landscape, ethics, and operational excellence. The recurring topic of the conference was the importance of capacity building and supporting early- and mid-career researchers toward independence and international competitiveness. The gathering was followed by two days of site visits across The Gambia, affording EVI staff an immersive insight into ongoing trials and field-based operations.
EVI visited clinical trial sites in Fajara, Soma, Keneba, Brikama, and Banjulinding. Fajara serves as the MRCG’s main operational base where research activities are conducted. Additionally, the Fajara Clinical Services Department provides medical care to the general Gambian public and is recognised for its excellent and cost-effective healthcare. Clinical studies in Keneba are primarily focused on nutrition and planetary health. Keneba also hosts a large biobank containing biospecimens and associated health data of consenting participants from the surrounding region. The EVI staff toured the state-of-the-art and GCLP-compliant MRCG laboratories where clinical trial samples are processed. All sites maintain excellent relationships with the local community and have demonstrated efficient patient recruitment and retention.
During the visit to Fajara and other clinical sites, EVI was able to evaluate MRCG’s quality system and operational capabilities. MRCG offers a unique combination of infrastructure, expertise, highly qualified staff, and regulatory compliance, which makes it stand out in West Africa. Future collaboration between EVI and MRCG is envisaged. MRCG has extensive knowledge of the research environment in West Africa as well as experience in monitoring malaria vaccine clinical trials.
EVI is collaborating with MRCG on the implementation of a Phase 1b study in Burkina Faso, using the vaccine candidate MSP1, as outlined in NCT06618885. This groundbreaking study aims to advance malaria vaccine development and improve children's health outcomes in regions most affected by infectious diseases.
This collaboration brings together EVI’s expertise in vaccine innovation and MRCG’s long-standing experience in clinical research within Africa. The trial represents a significant step forward in addressing critical public health challenges and underscores the importance of international cooperation in accelerating scientific progress.
We extend our sincere thanks to MRCG for inviting EVI to their clinical trials day and to our representatives - Dr Souyet Chang Rodriguez, Senior Clinical Project Manager, and Petra Zrustova, Quality Assurance Manager - for representing EVI at the conference and site visits and to MMVC and MIMVaC-Africa projects for supporting networking and capacity building efforts.
These activities were supported by Multi-Stage Malaria Vaccine Consortium (MMVC) and MIMVaC-Africa projects. These projects are part of the EDCTP2 Programme supported by the European Union (RIA2016V-1649-MMVC; RIA2018SV-2310- MIMVaC-Africa).
Images: Courtesy of MRCG and EVI team.
