The main objective of this program is to provide doctoral training in implementation research in Argentina, thereby building a sustainable, in-country doctoral program allowing Argentine researchers to become successful independent investigators. Implementation research evaluates approaches to implement evidence-based interventions, and hence to improve the quality and effectiveness of health care. Implementation research includes the use of randomized controlled trials and rigorous operational research to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions designed to promote the uptake of research findings into routine healthcare. It also includes a multi-disciplinary approach to understand the determinants of non-communicable diseases and the cultural, socio-economic, and behavioral barriers to implementation of effective interventions. Our approach starts in the pre-conceptional period and includes the entire lifespan. This will be accomplished via a sandwich PhD program, which will offer doctoral training to qualified candidates who have graduated from the master's program at the Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS) in Buenos Aires, Argentina or from equivalent programs. During Years 1-3 of the program, candidates will enroll in the PhD program at the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine and will complete their first year of coursework at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. During Years 4 and 5 of the program, trainees will only spend one semester at Tulane and will then take new courses to be developed at IECS during the following semester. This will be a step toward the progressive transfer of the entire program to Argentina. The training in implementation research will be focused on two areas of strength at IECS and at Tulane University: maternal and child health and cardiovascular health, linking them in a lifespan approach. After completing the program, trainees will be offered positions and opportunities to collaborate with IECS in ongoing research activities, especially those related to NIH-funded projects. They will also have opportunities to teach PhD students in Argentina.
The main objective of this program is to provide doctoral training in implementation research in Argentina. There is strong evidence supporting effective interventions that health providers, health services, and the population can adopt to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases; however, these interventions are not routinely translated into health care practice or adopted by the population, despite the huge efforts in service delivery programs and dissemination of health care information. Bridging this gap via training is an absolute necessity; thus, the proposed training program is highly relevant to public health in Argentina.
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