FOGARTY HATTP MANUSCRIPT WRITING RETREAT

Spier Conference Centre
Friday 1st to Saturday 2nd December 2023

Following a very busy year for the Fogarty Fellows, the HATTP Administrative committee members suggested that the Fellows would benefit from dedicated time to focus on their current manuscripts in preparation for publication.
Nine Fogarty fellows and associated UCT researchers working on HIV-TB research studies attended the retreat. Some were just starting their writing journeys while others hoped to finalise their current manuscripts within the next couple of months.

Attendees:

• Dr Hannah Gunter – Clinical PhD candidate in Clinical Pharmacology
• Raymond Moseki – PhD candidate in Medicine
• Avuyonke Balfour – PhD candidate in Medicine
• Tafadzwa Chimbetete – PhD candidate in Allergy and Immunology
• Katlego Mothlaoleng – PhD candidate in Epidemiology and Public Health
• Dr Phiona Namale – Clinical PhD candidate in Medicine
• Dr Marcia Vermeulen – MMed candidate in Medicine
• Dr Charlotte Schutz – Co-investigator on New Strat TB study
• Dr Jessica Taylor – MMed candidate in Clinical Pharmacology

Four Faculty members attended and met with each attendee over the 2-day retreat to advise and discuss structure, direction and improvements to their manuscripts as well as selection of appropriate journals for publication.

Faculty members:

• Professor Graeme Meintjes – Principal Investigator of the Fogarty HATTP program
• Associate Professor Sipho Dlamini – HATTP Administrative Committee member
• Professor Gary Maartens – HATTP Co-ordinating Committee member
• Dr Kate Shearer – Johns Hopkins HATTP faculty member based in Cape Town
• Kathy Wood, HATTP administrator, also attended.

Presentations were given each morning:
Friday 1st December 2023:
Professor Gary Maartens – “Writing a Scientific Paper: Original Research”
Saturday 2nd December 2023
Professor Graeme Meintjes – “Journal submission and responding to reviewers”

Following these presentations and question time, the attendees moved to individual spaces within the conference area to focus on their own manuscripts. The Faculty members were available for advice and discussion as required.

Feedback from all the attendees expressed appreciation for the dedicated time to focus on writing and all felt that good progress had been made, despite feeling that the time passed by very quickly! This was emphasised by requests for a similar event in future!