Programs
and Initiatives | Training
Grants
International
Training in Medical Informatics (ITMI)
Updated
January 2002
The Fogarty
International Center, in collaboration with the National
Library of Medicine (NLM) and with additional funding
from the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),
has developed this program to address the gap between developed
and developing countries in the area of modern information
technologies. These efforts will assist developing country
scientists and their U.S. collaborators to address local and
global health needs through improved access to scientific
and clinical information on health threats and improved research
and surveillance capabilities. The first competition of this
program focused on training of scientists from sub-Saharan
Africa. The second competition in 1999 added projects in both
Africa and Latin America. It is not known at the present time
when the program will be competed for a third time.
Specifically,
the program is designed to:
- Improve
the informatics capacity of developing country institutions
in order to advance research and health surveillance activities
by training key researchers and institutional support staff
in those institutions in the use and development of modern
informatics technologies in the health sciences;
- Provide
targeted short-term training in informatics and related
disciplines at U.S. institutions and in the home country
to develop and disseminate locally adapted knowledge of
the informatics technologies in collaborating countries;
- Expand
and improve ongoing collaborative research between U.S.
and developing country scientists in the prevention, control
and treatment of diseases of public health relevance in
the home country.
Types of Training:
- Formal
U.S.- based training for developing country scientists in
computer assisted data analysis and management for biomedical
research applications (e.g. biostatistics, Geographic Information
Systems [GIS], epidemiological modeling, database construction,
and access and use of public biomedical databases such as
GenBank or PubMed) which may lead to an M.S. or the equivalent
degree for individuals with degrees in biomedical or other
health related science. Such training would normally require
that trainees already had basic computer skills and a demonstrated
aptitude for computer use. The duration of training is expected
to range from one to four academic semesters. Academic courses
will normally be taken in the U.S. Associated field studies
and research projects could be conducted in the United States,
but to the extent possible, should take place in the traineeÕs
home country.
- Postdoctoral
training and research experiences (generally of one to two
years duration) for developing country health scientists
(in the United States).
- Practical
and applied short-term training (up to three weeks) targeted
to specific needs in support of disease control and prevention
research for scientists, technicians, librarians and allied
health professionals, including training necessary to support
development or use of existing local, national or international
medical databases. An excellent example of such a short
course in the U.S. is the NLM funded Medical Informatics
Course at Woods Hole. This training could also take place
at the home institution or at regionally important centers
in the developing country.
- Advanced
informatics training (generally of one to two yearsÕ duration)
for current and/or former trainees, including re-entry grants
to enable them to develop projects that apply newly acquired
skills in association with ongoing research or public health
efforts.
- Follow-up
training in the home country using distance learning techniques
where useful and appropriate.
Trainees
Trainees
shall be individuals who are currently involved or will be
involved in biomedical research or health surveillance activities
in their home country. A research institutional base for trainees
to return to is an integral part of the eligibility of the
trainees. The U.S. applicants are especially encouraged to
recruit junior faculty at participating developing country
universities or research institutes. The following categories
of individuals are eligible for training:
- Foreign
researchers and other health professionals (M.D., D.D.S./D.M.D.,
Ph.D., or equivalent);
- Foreign
professionals with a bachelors or masters degree in a basic
or health science;
- Medical
technicians, computer technicians and health care workers;
- Allied
health professionals such as behavioral scientists, medical
librarians, and nurses;
- Highly
qualified current or former trainees from other FIC or NIH
programs involved in advanced research training in their
home countries.
Program Directors/U.S. Institutions/Collaborating Countries
Dr.
Taha El Tahir Taha
Johns Hopkins University
Department of Epidemiology
615 North Wolfe Street
Rm. E6011
Baltimore, Maryland 21205
Telephone: (410) 614-5255
Fax: (410) 955-1836
E-mail:
ttaha@jhsph.edu
Malawi
Dr.
William Tierney
Regenstrief Institute
Department of Medicine
1001 West Tenth Street, RG6
Indianapolis, Indiana 46202
Telephone: (317) 630-7660
Fax: (317) 630-6611
E-mail:
tierney_b@regenstrief.iupui.edu
See "Training and Collaboration Opportunities" at http://www.regenstrief.org
Kenya
Dr.
Michael Bennish
New England Medical Center Hospitals
Department of Medicine
750 Washington Street, Box 041
Boston, Massachusetts 02111
Telephone: (617) 636-0336
Fax: (617) 636-3216
E-mail: Michael.Bennish@mrc.ac.za
See further information at http://www.nemc.org/itmi/
South Africa, Zambia
Dr.
Frances Mather
Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Department of Biostatistics
1430 Tulane Avenue
SL 18
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
Telephone: (504) 587-7329
Fax: (504) 584-1706
E-mail:
mather@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
Mali
Dr.
Charles Mitchell
University of Miami School of Medicine
Division of Immunology and Infectious Diseases
1500 NW 10th Avenue # 203
P.O. Box 016960 (D4-4)
Miami, Florida 33101
Telephone: (305) 243-2700
charles.mitchell@miami.edu
Zambia
Dr.
Daniel McGee
Medical University of South Carolina
Department of Biometry and Epidemiology
P.O. Box 250551
135 Rutledge Avenue, Suite 1148
Charleston, South Carolina 29425
Telephone: (843) 876-1135
Fax: (843) 876-1126
mcgeed@musc.edu
Nigeria, Jamaica
Dr.
Lucila Ohno-Machado
Brigham And Women's Hospital
Decision Systems Group
75 Francis Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Telephone: (617) 732-8543
Fax: (617) 739-3672
machado@dsg.harvard.edu
See further information at http://dsg.harvard.edu/courses/brazil/
Brazil
Dr.
Timothy De Ver Dye
University of Rochester
Department of Community and Preventive Medicine
601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 324
Rochester, New York 14642
Telephone: (716) 273-2586
Fax: (716) 756-7656
tdye@prevmed.rochester.edu
See further information at http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/cpm/costarica.htm
Costa Rica
Dr.
Ann Kimball
University of Washington
Department of Health Services
Box 357660
Seattle, Washington 98195-7660
Telephone: (206) 616-2977
Fax: (206) 543-3964
E-mail:
akimball@u.washington.edu
See further information at http://depts.washington.edu/infomatx/
Peru
Dr.
Cynthia Gadd
University of Pittsburgh
Center for Biomedical Informatics
200 Lothrop Street
8084 Forbes Tower
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
Telephone: (412) 647-7113
Fax: (412) 647-7120
E-mail:
csg@cbmi.upmc.edu
Nigeria
Decisions
about whom to accept for training are made by the program
directors. All current program directors have developed collaborative
activities with specific countries, with major collaborations
indicated above. The relevant U.S. program director should
be contacted for country-specific information, necessary qualifications,
eligibility, and application procedures. Scientists from
the participating countries are eligible to apply for these
training programs.
Links
to ITMI-related sites
For additional
information on the International Training In Medical
Informatics program (ITMI), please contact the Program
Director:
Dr.
Flora N. Katz
Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
Building 31, B2C39
31 Center Drive MSC 2220
Bethesda, MD 20892-2220
Phone:
(301) 402-9591
Fax: (301) 402-2056
E-Mail: KatzF@mail.nih.gov
Archive
The most
recent announcement for this program appeared in the NIH Guide
for Grants and Contracts March 4, 1999, TW-99-003.
ITMI
In the News: August 19, 2000, British Medical Journal
Information Technology and Telemedicine in Sub-Saharan Africa
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