There is a critical shortage of healthcare, lawyers, pharmacists, etc., trained in public health research with expertise in international health. Low and Middle Income countries increasingly face a double disease burden, yet often lack a basic infrastructure or resources to tackle it. Apart from infectious diseases, salient health issues in these nations include a rise in death toll from non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and injury, superseding in many cases death from infectious diseases. The University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) has many international research programs in Africa, the Middle-East, South Asia, Former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Latin America dispersed through all of its 6 schools (Medicine, Law, Dental, Nursing, Pharmacy and Social Work Schools) that address global health issues such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, cholera, malaria, schistosomiasis, cancer, tobacco control, injury prevention, disaster management, social policy, law, ethics, bio-terrorism and mental health. Our Overall Goal is to provide a platform by which these researchers can interact to develop multidisciplinary research themes, as well as develop a high quality and affordable multidisciplinary training programs in global health giving existing students and working professionals the opportunity to pursue a global health career. Specifically, we will develop 1) a new MPH degree in global health (with participation of all six schools at UMB); 2) a new Global Public Health Foundation certificate program offered in the summer for students and professionals to obtain training in GH emerging issues; 3) an expanded offering of summer courses (e.g. epidemiology, clinical research, biostatistics, tropical medicine, etc.) to accommodate diverse student learners, including international trainees; and 4) a new workshop series open to all members of the campus community titled Introduction to Global Health Research. In addition we will leverage existing infrastructures and funds to promote student externships and new faculty partnership with foreign collaborators. A new Global Health Resource Center will be created to help administer these activities and act as a single point of reference serving the campus and the GH Framework Program. This GH Framework Program has captured the commitment of leaders throughout the campus including the President and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Deans of each professional school, and NIH-funded research leaders on campus. The support from the Fogarty International Center for these developmental activities come at a pivotal time for our campus and will lead to sustainable programs. ? ? ?
