The Fogarty International Center (FIC) recently announced two new programs of interest to the drug abuse and addiction research community. FIC’s programs provide funding to perform research and to train researchers in a variety of global health topics. The new programs offer funding to enhance research capacity and to mentor and train early-career health scientists in global health topics.
AIDS/TB Research Capacity-Building
The Fogarty HIV Research Training Program was developed to strengthen the human capacity to contribute to the ability of institutions in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) to conduct HIV-related research on the evolving HIV-related epidemics in their country and to compete independently for research funding.
NIDA is one of three National Institutes of Health (NIH) components supporting the Fogarty HIV Research Training Program. FIC encourages applications through three different announcements under the new program:
- Fogarty HIV Research Training Program for Low- and Middle-Income Country Institutions (D43, PAR-12-068) encourages applications to support research training to develop and strengthen the scientific leadership and expertise needed for HIV-related research at LMIC institutions.
- Limited Competition: Planning Grant for Fogarty HIV Research Training Program for Low- and Middle-Income Country Institutions (D71, PAR-12-070) encourages planning grants to support LMIC institutions as they develop an application to submit under this Funding Opportunity Announcement.
- Training Programs for Critical HIV Research Infrastructure for Low- and Middle-Income Country Institutions (G11, PAR-12-069) support applications from U.S. institutions for training in defined research infrastructure areas at LMIC institutions.
The new Fogarty HIV Research Program is the result of the consolidation of the AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) and the International Clinical, Operations and Health Services Research Training Award for AIDS TB program (ICOHRTA AIDS TB). It is important to note that current AITRP and Phase II ICOHRTA AIDS TB award institutions are not eligible to submit applications under this funding opportunity announcement until the last year of their current AITRP or Phase II ICOHRTA AIDS TB project period.
Training Program in Global Health Research
FIC has created five support centers for the Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars. Over the next 5 years, the program will train 400 early-career health scientists through focused mentoring and diverse clinical research experiences at approximately 80 research sites in 27 low-resource countries. Fellows may be citizens of low-resource countries or the United States. Approximately 80 percent of the trainees will be postdoctoral fellows; the remaining trainees will be doctoral students. Each support center consists of a lead university working with three partner universities. The support centers are located at the:
- University of California Berkeley, which will train fellows to address global health challenges specific to slum dwellings, working with partners at Florida International, Stanford, and Yale Universities. Fellows will work at sites in 10 slum communities located in Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, where research has been ongoing for at least 3 years.
- University of California Global Health Institute, which links University of California campuses in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Davis with 24 international collaborating institutions in Mexico, Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Fellows from this consortium will focus on interdisciplinary research in areas such as social and behavioral science, nutrition, environment, medicine, public health, nursing, veterinary science, and basic science.
- Vanderbilt Institute of Global Health, which will train research fellows with partners at Emory, Cornell, and Duke Universities. Fellows will investigate HIV/AIDS, cancer, heart disease, ophthalmology, or mental disorders at 10 sites in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
- University of Washington, Seattle, which has partnered with the Universities of Hawaii, Michigan, and Minnesota to train fellows at research sites in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, which will partner with Johns Hopkins, Morehouse, and Tulane Universities; fellows will conduct research at sites in Africa, Asia, and South America.
NIDA is one of 15 NIH components supporting the Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars.