Our clinical training program is designed as a collaborative effort between in-country investigators and staff at the NIAID International Centers of Excellence in Research (ICER) Program, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), the Fogarty International Center (FIC), staff and collaborating investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and ICER site collaborators in or near Bamako, Mali; Chennai, India; and Kampala, Uganda. The purpose of this initiative is to strengthen and sustain, through collaborative training and research, the ability of NIAID-funded scientists, physicians, nurses, and public health practitioners to contribute to clinical research. To this effect we have designed a training program that will prepare NIAID-funded field researchers and key staff to address all the key issues pertaining to the conduct and management of international clinical infectious disease (ID) research in the context of international collaboration. In addition, we intend to prepare them to participate fully in research addressing global problems in ID prevention and control, emphasizing local research target areas. Our training program is multidisciplinary and will include clinical research design, epidemiology, health behavior, biostatistics, health policy, clinical trial regulatory mechanisms, research ethics, data management, field management, clinical management, outreach and retention, quality assurance in clinical and laboratory matters, and key principles in observational, treatment and prevention research. We believe that UAB is an ideal university partner for the ICER for many reasons, among them: (1) our personnel have proven track records in clinical research in Africa, Asia, South and North America, and Europe; (2) our training initiatives will build efficiently on UAB-linked activities and institutions, including six highly successful FIC-funded international research training initiatives. We intend to first assess clinical research and management training needs at ICER sites for investigators, research managers, administrators, laboratory directors, and key staff, considering on-site and regional training first, and when more efficient, training in the United States. Based on the results of the needs assessment, develop and implement a curriculum of clinical research training activities that will strengthen the capacity of investigators at ICER and other NIAID- and FIC-supported international sites to conduct clinical ID research and effectively manage ID research programs and projects. This training curricula will aim at building the ICER sites into regional centers of excellence in clinical research by providing training components that focus on capacity building for clinical research.
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