UNC receives $2.7 million NIH grant to continue AIDS research training program
| April 23, 2009 | |
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has received $2.7 million from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to train HIV/AIDS researchers in China, Malawi and Cameroon.
Dr. Ada Adimora
Dr. Ada Adimora is principal investigator on the grant, which supports long- and short-term HIV/AIDS research training. Now entering its 11th year, the program is administered by UNC’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases. UNC works with international partners to recruit trainees who will be hired at partner institutions in their home countries after they leave the program. The funds are awarded under the Fogarty International Center’s 20-year-old signature AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP), which has trained nearly 2,000 foreign researchers. Most remain in their countries to battle the epidemic, train young scientists and move into government health leadership. Most of the training is done at UNC in the School of Medicine and the Gilllings School of Global Public Health. “UNC has been working in these countries for decades, and we have seen very tangible benefits of this and similar training programs,” said Myron Cohen, MD, director of the institute and associate vice chancellor for global health. Cohen is also the J. Herbert Bate Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology in the medical school, and of Epidemiology in the public health school. Ada Adimora, MD, professor of medicine and clinical professor of epidemiology in the UNC schools of medicine and public health, is principal investigator and director of the program. UNC’s partners in the AITRP program include China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Control in Nanjing; Kamuzu Central Hospital, in Lilongwe, Malawi; and the University of Buea in Buea, Cameroon. The Fogarty International Center, the international component of the NIH, addresses global health challenges through research and training programs and international partnerships.
For more information, visit http://globalhealth.unc.edu/unc-receives-nih-grant-to-train-hiv-researchers.php. websites: UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
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