In 1994, the International Subcore of the CFAR Clinical Research Core was established to assist with planning, coordination, logistics, conduct and analysis of research by UW investigators funded by NIH, USAID, WHO, CDC, the US Department of Defense and Industry, in Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mali, Nicaragua, Cambodia, and the Philippines. The subcore supported research focused particularly on preventing transmission of acquisition of HIV infection, and emphasized the following activities: developing international institutional affiliation agreements; clinical IRB reviews at the UW and overseas (often helping to establish IRBs in developing countries); conformance with and training in FAA/IATA regulations for shipping specimens and reagents; supervision of financial support including field advances; coordination of the testing of specimens at multiple labs at the UW, arranging donation of reagents and equipment by industry for international projects; coordinating travel, visas and training for international researchers; and preparation of grant proposals by trainees. With a subcore budget increasing from $8,000 to 24,000 per year, this support proved critical in implementing these international activities, leading to at least one FIRCA award for continued work in Peru, and a CDC contract for continued work in Cambodia and the Philippines; and designation of the UW Center for AIDS & STD as a whole collaborating Center for AIDS & STD. This international activity will be upgraded from a subcore to a Core, providing stable core funding to sustain these efforts. During the next five years, the aims of the International Core are to continue to provide core logistic and laboratory infrastructure to support funded NIH research in developing countries; provide small pilot grants to investigators from developing countries; to increase the involvement of the UW investigators in international research; and where possible, to upgrade international technical assistance funded by USAID to include more definitive research components than would otherwise be possible. We anticipate that this support will continue to lead to new collaborative grant proposals from researchers in developing countries.
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