Tuberculosis is an enormous public health problem in the Republic of Georgia and other former Soviet Republics; there is a high incidence of disease and high rates of multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB). This application, entitled the Emory-Georgia Tuberculosis Research Training Program (EGTB-RTP) proposes to establish a high quality research training program that will greatly enhance TB related research capacity in Georgia. Our proposal has been specifically designed to address the research needs and gaps in expertise that currently exists in Georgia in order to improve the TB research infrastructure. An important goal of the program is to facilitate the development of highly qualified, successful, and independent investigators who will conduct internationally recognized TB related research and make important contributions to TB treatment, prevention and control efforts in their home country. This application will benefit from a long standing collaboration (including externally funded peer-reviewed grants) between the Emory PI/co-PI and the Georgian co-PI and collaborators. A solid foundation for the establishment of the EGTB-RTP is provided by a number of already existing NIH funded projects including the Emory AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) which includes research training in Georgia, the NIH K-30 supported Emory Clinical Research Curriculum Award which provides didactic and mentored clinical research training through the Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) graduate degree program, and the NIH supported TB Academic Award/Emory Tuberculosis Education and Control Program which includes supplemental funding for a research project in Georgia. Other important collaborations include those with committed key faculty at the Emory University School of Medicine (including those in Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, the Emory Clinical Microbiology and Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, and the Emory Vaccine Center), the Emory Rollins School of Public Health, collaborators in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the University of Georgia. Our program will provide opportunities for our trainees to pursue didactic and mentored research training in the following disciplines: clinical research (including clinical trials, epidemiologic research, health services and outcomes research, and behavioral/social science research), translational research, and laboratory (applied and basic) research training relevant to tuberculosis diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control. We propose to help build human resource capacity for high quality TB related research in Georgia by providing long, medium and short-term training to a diverse group of researchers with outstanding potential and to build in-country research capacity that will support evidence based translation of research into policy and practice in Georgia, at the Ministry of Health level, and at the National TB Program/National Center for TB and Lung Disease and other Georgian collaborating centers.
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