Participants in the NIDA Fellowship Orientation included (sitting, from left): Hamida Ebadi (JHU/Afghanistan), Dale Weiss (NIDA), Thanda Kin (VCU/Burma), Rawnak Aqrawi (VCU/Iraq), and Chinyere Okonkwo (VCU/Nigeria). Standing, middle row: Mario Zapata (INVEST-CTN/Colombia), Hoang Huy Vu (Emory graduate student), Tetiana Kiriazova (Emory/Ukraine), Leonardo Estacio, Jr. (INVEST-CTN/Philippines), [Mohd] Muzafar Razali (VCU/Malaysia), Valeriy Ryabukha (VCU/Ukraine), Murilo Battisti (VCU/Brazil), Gabriela Olivera (VCU/Uruguay), Brent Mancha (JHU), Andrea Domanico (JHU/Brazil), and Esther Aryee (JHU/Ghana). Standing back row: Steve Gust (NIDA), Alberto Moriggia (INVEST/Italy), Randy Koch (VCU), Sergey Koren (JHU/Russia), and Wali Omer (JHU/Iraq).Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and Emory University joined NIDA INVEST and INVEST/CTN Fellows for an orientation program. International Program Director Dr. Steven W. Gust and Associate Director Dale Weiss hosted the program to introduce the fellows to the Institute’s international research priorities, NIDA and National Institutes of Health resources that the fellows can access during and after their fellowships, and collaboration and training tools developed by the NIDA International Program. Mr. Barrett Whitener introduced a webinar series to help international researchers improve their scientific communication skills. Dr. Krystyna Isaacs and Dr. Joseph Perpich discussed the NIDA International Virtual Collaboratory (NIVC) and the Humphrey Fellowship Professional Affiliation Directory created through NIVC. Representatives from NIDA divisions and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration talked with the fellows about their offices’ international research priorities and opportunities for collaborative international research.
Fellows toured the Intramural Research Program (IRP) in Baltimore, meeting with the IRP Deputy Clinical Director, Captain Michelle Leff, M.D., M.B.A., and the IRP Institutional Review Board Administrator, Ms. Anne E. Gupman. The fellows toured the chemistry and drug metabolism laboratories with Dr. Robert Goodwin; the magnetic resonance imaging suite with Dr. Eliot Stein; Archway Clinic with Dr. Kenzie Preston and Ms. Margaret Kroen; and the nicotine addiction and cognition outpatient testing rooms with Dr. Steve Heishman. Fellows also toured the National Library of Medicine and met with staff at the Fogarty International Center. In addition to the 16 fellows from 12 nations, Mr. Hoang Huy Vu, a Vietnamese graduate student at Emory University, also participated in the orientation.