June 26, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has received a five-year, $5 million grant from Fogarty International, a center of the National Institutes of Health, to establish a training program to enhance the clinical research capabilities of institutions in resource poor countries. “The program partners UAB with infectious diseases research sites in countries where global diseases — malaria, HIV and TB — are prevalent to ensure the advancement of research in these areas,” said Dr. Eric Chamot, assistant professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health at UAB.

Partnering institutions, identified as International Centers for Excellence in Research, are the University of Mali in Bamako; Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda; and the Tuberculosis Research Center in Chennai, India. “Although centers are already well established, they rely on a small number of senior investigators,” said Sibylle Kristensen, UAB research instructor with the department of geographic medicine and training director for the program. “The program will ensure junior investigators are ready to advance into senior-level positions and that trained support staff is in place.”

The program consists of four training components: degree training at UAB for young investigators, short-term courses at UAB in clinical research methods and techniques for researchers and support staff, on-site training for research teams and distance learning via the Internet. “Training will be tailored to meet the specific needs of the research teams,” Kristensen said. “The first step is to conduct comprehensive assessments of each institution to determine its needs.”

The program will also serve to aid institutions in competing for additional grant funding. “NIH and other international funding agencies require strict compliance with guidelines governing clinical trials,” Chamot said. “Training will focus, in part, on fully understanding the complexities of these guidelines.”

Chamot and Kristensen are set to make short introductory visits to the three sites in August. Afterwards, longer visits will be scheduled to conduct assessments and devise tailored training programs. “All together, the effort will involve 20 to 30 UAB faculty and staff representing various disciplines, including public health, nursing and medicine, as well as others outside the university,” Chamot said. “It will be a collaborative effort of many, which is one reason UAB was chosen to receive the grant. We have an excellent track record facilitating programs like this one.”