Our Framework proposal is built on a partnership between Vanderbilt University and Meharry Medical College co-located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt University is a world renowned institution of higher learning, with a highly compact campus, a physical attribute that facilitates easy communication across diverse disciplines. Meharry is a historically black medical college that is responsible for having trained an estimated half of all black physicians in the USA. Both institutions have deep engagement in global health, but neither has yet established the interdisciplinary administrative, communications, and curricular innovation that we propose in this application. We have a strong tradition of interdisciplinary interaction, however, through such entities as the Institute for Global Health at Vanderbilt, the Program in Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt, the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, the Vanderbilt-Meharry Center for AIDS Research, and the Center for Health Disparities Research in HIV at Meharry, among others. We have three specific aims: (1) Development of multidisciplinary curricula and training opportunities in global health. This includes the creation of an interdisciplinary graduate-level certificate course in global health that is suitable for full integration into graduate and professional programs in Medicine and Public Health, Nursing, Education, and the unique undergraduate Medicine, Health, and Society program, among others. Special focus is placed on field research opportunities and core competencies in ethics, informatics, and proposal development and grants management. (2) Expansion of opportunities for undertaking basic and applied research in global health. This includes facilitation of """"""""research incubator groups,"""""""" support for developmental research and travel awards, and monthly seminars to encourage multidisciplinary interactions at the interface of research and practice; and (3) Development of an administrative framework for integrating global health research and educational activities at VU and MMC. This will entail a web-based investigator database, streamlining of procedures to facilitate global health projects, and bridging of communication gaps through web-conferencing, cultural competency training, language training, and translation support services. We will engage five of our collaborating institutions in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Lima, Peru; Lusaka, Zambia; Shanghai, China and Puebla, Mexico, such that benefits that accrue to US institutions will be shared abroad. ? ? ?
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