The UCLA/Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program (UCLA/Fogarty AITRP) is proposing to continue training of health professionals from health sciences schools, research institutions and HIV/AIDS control programs in China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. The UCLA/Fogarty AITRP program includes 1-2-week in-country and regional courses on specific topics such as research ethics and laboratory strategies to support surveillance, 3-6-month postdoctoral training at UCLA in HIV/AIDS-related sciences and academic programs leading to M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Trainees in the two degree programs are required to conduct the field work for their theses and dissertations in their home country. Theses and dissertation topics are selected jointly by the trainee, the UCLA faculty advisor, and the in-country coordinator, and must bear on issues relevant for effective control of HIV/AIDS in their home countries. Graduates are assisted in obtaining funds to initiate research programs in their home country. Since its inception in 1988, the program has trained 23 M.S. and 15 Ph.D. graduates, and 83 Post-doctoral scholars. All but one of those have returned to their home countries. Graduates of the UCLA/Fogarty AITRP have published 350 research papers in refereed journals, and have assumed key positions in academia, Ministries of Health (often as directors of the HIV/AIDS control programs), and research institutions in their home countries, and with international organizations such as UNAIDS and the World Health Organization. The program currently has 13 trainees in the Ph.D. program and 12 in the M.S. program. The UCLA AITRP program for 2003-8 will emphasize prevention/intervention and strategies for management of HIV-infected and AIDS patients.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 109 publications
