This proposal builds upon the success of a 20-year, Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) that supported institutional HIV research capacity building in Pune, India. Since 1992, the Hopkins India Fogarty AITRP has trained 103 Indian scientists at Hopkins, in a wide range of epidemiology and basic science research programs, of whom 99 (95%) returned to India to apply their Fogarty research training. The Fogarty AITRP has led directly to the establishment of highly productive, successful and sustainable HIV research programs at the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) and Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College (BJMC). BJMC has also participated in 20 years of continuous HIV NIH-supported research and is now a well- established Clinical Trials Unit (CTU). We now propose, in this application, to strategically expand the institutional research capacity and scientific leadership at BJMC in HIV-TB epidemiology, clinical and laboratory research. The HIV-TB Research Training Program will be led by Dr. Bob Bollinger, the India Fogarty AITRP Director for the past two decades. He will work closely with Dr. D. B. Kadam, Head of the Department of Medicine at BJMC, who will be the Coordinator of the Fogarty HIV-TB Research Training Program. A 3 Phase post-doctoral training program for junior and midlevel BJMC faculty will include strategic short- and long-term training activities, mentored research projects, research workshops and establishment of a Data Management and Biostatistics Training Core at BJMC. During Phase I (Years 1 and 2) ten BJMC faculty (6 epidemiology/clinical research and 4 lab trainees) will participate in strategic short-term trainin activities. Successful completion of Phase I will provide these 10 faculty an opportunity to compete for Phase II training (Years 2-4), which will include 4 in-depth training opportunities (2 mentored MPH degree programs and 2 mentored postdoctoral laboratory research fellowships). These 4 Phase II faculty trainees will then be responsible establishing The BJMC HIV-TB Research Leadership Team during Phase III (Year 5), which will demonstrate sustainable institutional capacity through their own participation as mentors for 5 additional BJMC faculty trainees. The design of this HIV-TB training program reflects key lessons learned over the past 20 years about building institutional research capacity in India. The impact of our program will also be optimized by the leadership of a highly experienced Training Advisory Committee (TAC), by participation 14 experienced Hopkins faculty mentors, including 2 full-time Hopkins faculty based in Pune, as well as the distance learning infrastructure and experience of the Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education. As with our prior AITRP program, success of this program will be demonstrated by peer-reviewed publications, particularly manuscripts first-authored manuscripts by Fogarty trainees, grant submissions and demonstration of institutional leadership and local mentorship of other faculty and students, by the BJMC Fogarty Leadership Team.
Johns Hopkins University proposes to establish a new post-doctoral training program in HIV-TB epidemiology, clinical and laboratory research, for junior faculty of the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College (BJMC) in Pune, India. Twenty-six percent of all global TB patients are Indian, drug-resistant TB is spreading in India and up to 15% of all Indian TB patients are also HIV-infected. With the support of this new Fogarty Training Program, BJMC is uniquely positioned to make a major contribution to HIV-TB research in India and beyond.
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