We plan to submit a proposal as a follow up and expansion of an R21 award to develop sustainable research capacity in Bolivia, Peru and Argentina. Our ongoing training program between South- American and US investigators in the areas of neuropsychiatric and genetics research focused on the problems affecting people from indigenous communities in South America. The proposal describes a five year joint training program between Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay and US investigators in the areas of epidemiology, genetics and neuroimaging to study major psychiatric disorders amongst First Nations in South America. The program will build on the existing research training opportunities developed with the support of the R21 award and a K08 award. The existing research project has recruited, enrolled, and retained MD scientists, clinical psychologists, geneticists/statisticians and health workers with lower levels of academic education in mentorship relationships with participating investigators and in regular collaborative work. We will select MDs and clinical psychologists belonging to indigenous populations of the member countries and fluent in their native languages. Trainees from the program will complete a Master of Medical Sciences at USF (partly online, partly on campus), one US and two South American research rotations, and they will have the option to pursue a Ph.D. dissertation towards a doctoral degree at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Those who elect this option will be able to apply for pilot research funding through NEUFIN.
We aim to expand on their opportunity to gain state of the art research experience and bring that experience back to their home countries to address major global health problems. The proposed program is multidisciplinary and reflecting the wide range of expertise required for understanding the complex etiology of neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders which contribute significantly to the global burden of disease.
We aim to: 1. Build on the momentum already begun training outstanding physicians, psychologists, statisticians, and geneticists in South-America for long-term multidisciplinary training in clinica neurosciences research and human genetics. We will achieve this goal by providing (i) mentorship under the apprenticeship model, (ii) 30 month fellowships to complete a Master of Medical Sciences degree at University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and research rotations at Harvard Medical School and Washington University School of Medicine, as well as mentored research projects at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and Universidad de Buenos Aires, (iii) mentoring and pilot funding to start doctoral dissertations at Universidad de Buenos Aires. 2. Strengthen and enrich academic programs by providing: (i) faculty exchanges, (ii) regional networking meetings with participation of US researchers, (iii) support for publication of research results. 3. Implement strategies to increase the regional and international research structure by: (i) Recruitment of trainees from multiple sites who will retur to their home institutions, (ii) Continued growth of individual and multidisciplinary research studies, (iii) Training in the responsible conduct of research that is culturally relevant yet meet the guidelines of 45CFR46 of the US Government. 4. Interact with other Fogarty Training Programs via web-based electronic communication tools developed with the support of a FIC/ARRA award to share curriculum and training experiences to enhance our programs.
This proposal is a follow up and expansion of an R21 award to develop sustainable research capacity in Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru and Argentina. Our ongoing training program between South American and US investigators in the areas of neuropsychiatric and genetics research focused on the problems affecting people from indigenous communities in South America. The proposal describes a five year joint training program between Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay and US investigators in the areas of epidemiology, genetics and neuroimaging to study major psychiatric disorders amongst First Nations in South America.
