This proposal requests support for Weill Medical College of Cornell University (WMC or Cornell) to continue training Haitian scientists in the performance of biomedical, epidemiological, interventional and behavioral research on HIV and related opportunistic infections. The program is based in the Division of International Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Cornell, with an interdisciplinary group of investigators who have extensive collaborations with Haiti. New and strengthened collaborations with Vanderbilt, Harvard, University of California (Berkeley), Meharry Medical College, the New York City Department of Health, the Hastings Center, and the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center offer diverse training opportunities. The program will continue to emphasize long-term training and advanced research training in Haiti. Since its inception, the AITRP program has provided medium and long-term training to 67 Haitian biomedical personnel, with 96% currently conducting HIV/AIDS work in Haiti. The training offered will be related to six general HIV/AIDS research categories: 1) HIV vaccine trials, 2) antiretroviral clinical trials, 3) pediatrics and maternal-infant transmission research, 4) HIV-associated opportunistic infections - tuberculosis, 5) ethics and behavioral research, and 6) pathogenesis, immunology, and virology. The proposed training will be conducted largely in Haiti, with much of the training done by the former Fogarty trainees. The training program is imbedded in the ongoing collaborative Cornell-Vanderbilt GHESKIO HIV research activities, including the HIV vaccine trials unit (HVTN), international clinical trials unit (ICTU), WHO/TDR tuberculosis and syphilis research, United Nations Global Fund, and proposed CIPRA and ICOHRTA grants. The highest priority will be given to training that will facilitate the conduct of HIV vaccine and clinical trials, and other intervention programs in Haiti. In addition to research training in Haiti, trainees will have the opportunity for advanced training with outstanding US mentors. The program's US core and collaborating training faculty are funded scientists committed to AIDS research. The faculty constitutes a cohesive unit, with diverse but focused interests. Five competing supplements to this AITRP renewal are also submitted. Four of the supplements are for expansion of research training either geographically (Brazil, Nigeria, and Dominican Republic) or in our emphasis country (Haiti). The fifth supplement is for in-country re-entry support for a Fogarty trainee (Francine Noel M.D.). The titles of the supplements are: Tuberculosis/AIDS Training and Research Program - Brazil/Cornell University Scale-Up of Community-Based HIV Prevention and Care - Haiti/Harvard University. AIDS International Training and Research Program - Dominican Republic/Columbia University Creating Sustainable HIV/AIDS Research - Nigeria/Cornell University Models of HIV Pediatric Care - Haiti/GHESKIO/Vanderbilt University.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter