International Maternal and Child Health Research and Training Program (MCH)

 Updated October 2004 

RFA: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-TW-00-007.html

This Program is designed to stimulate high quality research training and to build research capacity in support of current and future collaborative research on maternal and child health issues in low- and middle-income countries. The intent of the MCH research training program is to provide training opportunities for foreign investigators to strengthen research capacity and to foster foreign and U.S. cooperation related to maternal and early childhood health. The program will:

•  Increase expertise of scientists in low- and middle- income resource countries in maternal and child health related biomedical, behavioral, and prevention research;
• Support collaborative training in maternal and child health biomedical and behavioral research between U.S.-based and scientists at the collaborating foreign institution;
• Establish or strengthen maternal and child health biomedical and behavioral research capacity in the collaborating foreign institution.

The training programs offer a mix of training opportunities that include:

• Pre-doctoral training in maternal and child health-related biomedical and behavioral research disciplines, and data management and analysis in support of that research, which may lead to an M.S. or Ph.D. or equivalent degree for individuals with or without previous field research experience. In general, academic courses will be taken at the U.S. institution. Field studies and research may be conducted in the United States but, to the greatest extent possible, should occur in the trainees' home country.
• Postdoctoral research experiences, including related clinical training as needed, generally of two years duration for foreign health scientists;
• Short-term training (either in the United States or in-country) of up to four weeks in focused research methodologies related to improvement of maternal/child health outcomes;
• Medium-term training of about three to six months duration conducted in the United States in laboratory procedures and research techniques, {for example, development of pilot biomedical studies or development of behavioral research instruments for individuals with M.S. and M.D. or Ph.D. as well as nursing and nurse midwifery degrees};
• One-time awards for advanced research training (1-2 years duration) upon return to the home country; or
• Research training experiences for exceptionally promising pre- and postdoctoral U.S. health science students (including medical students and residents), with prior FIC approval.

Trainees are involved in maternal and child health-related biomedical and behavioral research and prevention activities in their home country, and include:

• Health professionals with doctoral degrees (M.D., D.D.S./D.M.D., Ph.D., or equivalent);
• Health professionals with a bachelors or masters degree in a basic or health science, including nurses and nurse midwives;
• Allied health professionals and health care workers (short courses);
• Current or former FIC trainees involved in advanced research training in their home country; or
• Pre and postdoctoral U.S. health science students, with prior FIC approval.
  

Co-sponsors:
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Funded Grantees

D43TW01277 -MCH TRAINING FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Michael Bennish, MD
Tufts University
750 Washington St. NEMC #041
Boston MA 02111
Ph: 617 636-2336
Fax: 617 636-3216\
E-Mail: mbennish@mrc.ac.za

The emphasis in this training program continues to be on research training relevant for middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa going through the health transition. The focus has therefore been on problems likely to contribute to the quality of life in mothers and surviving children, namely nutrition, growth, and development, and on those infectious diseases that continue to have substantial impact on the morbidity, disability and residual mortality in these countries, notably HIV infection. Their approach has been to concentrate our training activities at the University of Natal and its related research field site, the Africa Center for Health and Population Studies, and to see these related institutions as the main source and destination for research trainees. More advanced training has been provided through the collaboration with Tufts-New England Medical Center, and the University of Columbia School of Public Health.

D43TW01267- UCD-Fogarty Training Program in International Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition
Kenneth Brown, MD
University of California, Davis
One Sheilds Ave.
Davis CA 95616
Ph: 530 752-1992
Fax: 530 752-3406
E-mail: khbrown@ucdavis.edu

This research training program is designed to strengthen the capability of institutions in seven countries to conduct research on maternal and child health and nutrition issues and related aspects of child developmental disorders. The program involves International Collaborating Centers (ICCs) in Peru (Instituto de Investigacion Nutricional), Guatemala (Instituto de Nutricion de Centro America y Panama), Mexico (Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica), Ghana (Univeristy of Ghana at Legon), Pakistan (Aga Khan University) and Bangaldesh (ICCDR,B). The UC Davis-Fogarty International Center training program includes pre-doctoral, post-doctoral, short-term traineeships and workshops on research development and writing skills for grants and manuscripts.

D43TWO1266- INTERNATIONAL MCH RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROGRAM
Wafaie Fawzi, MD
Harvard School of Public Health
677 Huntington Ave.
Boston MA 02115
Ph: 617 432-2086
Fax: 617 432-2435
E-mail: mina@hsph.harvard.edu

This program trains future leaders in maternal and child health from Tanzania and China. Health professionals from both countries obtain skills in theoretical and practical aspects pertaining to MCH research and programs, through one of two tracks: (a) Public Health Track including nutrition, infectious disease, behavioral sciences, and child development; (b) Basic Science Track focusing on neonatal host defenses including training in developmental gastroenterology, molecular/cell biology, and immunology. Considerable expertise in these areas exists at Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. Training is provided in Boston through a combination of degree programs (Master's and doctoral) and non-degree postdoctoral fellowships. We will also carry out in-country training workshops to provide for communication and dissemination of new knowledge from research on MCH to in-country scientists, and to transfer knowledge from research programs to the field. Trainees come from Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and the Shanghai Second Medical School, China.

D43TW01276- Research Training in Reproductive and Perinatal Health in Mexico Program
Sioban Harlow, PhD
University of Michigan
109 Observatory St.
Ann Arbor MI 48109
Ph: 734 763-5173
Fax: 734 764-3192
Email: harlow@umich.edu

This project aims to develop research capacity in Reproductive and Perinatal Health in Mexico's northwest border region and in Zimbabwe. By focusing a training program in the Northwest border region of Mexico and the United States, this program aims to build a well-qualified team of reproductive health researchers familiar with the health needs of the northwest border population and committed to building infrastructure in this region. The research training plan is an integrated effort to develop the Maternal and Child Health infrastructure in Northwest Mexican states, with a particular emphasis on improving research training and capacity in Reproductive and Perinatal Health. It builds on the existing research capacity and regional/bi-national collaborations of El Colegio de Sonora as well as in two research centers historically funded as WHO Reproductive Research Centers in Durango and Coahuila. Our aim is to strengthen their capacity to conduct public health research training, including biomedical, behavioral, etiologic and intervention research, in collaboration with the three major Mexican health care systems (ISSSTE,I MSS and SSA) and local non-governmental organizations. In 2002, the University of Zimbabwe was added as a collaborating institution to integrate institutional strengths across the School of Medicine in Obstetrics and Gynecology (a former WHO-RHP Long-term Institutional Development award recipient) and the Community Health and Laboratory Sciences to focus on addressing the growing problem of preterm delivery and adverse perinatal outcomes in Zimbabwe.

D43TW01272 - Research and Training in Maternal and Child Health
Michael Mennuti, MD
University of Pennsylvania
5 Dulles/4283
3400 S. Price St.
Philadelphia PA 19104
Ph: 215 662-3234
Fax: (215) 349-5893
E-Mail: mmennuti@mail.obgyn.upenn.edu

This program supports postdoctoral research training for international investigators from Latin America including Chile (University of Chile), Mexico (Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia) and Peru (Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia). The goals of the program are to prepare a cadre of basic scientists and clinical investigators for independent research careers at their home institutions and to enhance NIH sponsored collaborative research in maternal and child health with the international institutions. The focus of the program is on intensive training in either clinical research methodology or bench research, which lasts two to three years. Trainees are selected from a strong pool of applicants based on prior academic achievements, potential to excel in research, commitment to an academic career, and the plans of the home institution. The program has three major themes: spontaneous miscarriage/preterm delivery, pre-eclampsia/intrauterine growth retardation, and birth defects.

D43TW01280- Perinatal Research Network
Charles D. Mitchell, MD
University of Miami
Department of Pediatrics D4-4
PO Box 06960
Miami FL 33101
Ph: 305 243-2755
Fax: 305 243-5562
E-mail: cmitchel@mns1.med.maimi.edu

This program collaborates with Zambia (University of Zambia, School of Medicine), Dominican Republic (Robert Reid Cabral Children's Hospital) and Brazil (University of Caxias do Sol) to increase the research capacity in perinatal/congenital infections and their effect on maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.
childhood tuberculosis, pediatric HIV/AIDS and the pathogenesis of perinatal transmission of HIV-1, viral oncology and AIDS-associated malignancies among women and children including human herpes virus type 8, kaposi's sarcoma, human papillomavirus and cervical carcinoma. The research training program is composed of three integral components: 1) academic training which involves didactic instruction and participation in research rotations, clinical investigations, and biomedical and behavioral studies that focus primarily on maternal and child health issues. 2) independent research experience which provides direct involvement in research training and scientific techniques including protocol development, project management and data collection and analysis of projects directly relevant to the trainees' home countries; and 3) advanced in-country scientific training to conduct in-country biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and/or prevention studies directly related to maternal and child health issues as they exist in the trainee's home country.

D43TW001264 - Training of Cameroonian Scientists
Diane W. Taylor, PhD
Georgetown University
Department of Biology
Washington DC 20057
Ph: (202) 687-5972
Fax: (202) 687-5662
E-mail: taylordw@georgetown.edu

The overall goal of this program is to provide Cameroonian scientists with solid training in research on malarial immunity in pregnant women, newborns and children with an emphasis of moving basic research from "the bench" into public policy. Cameroonian trainees are enrolled in the PhD program at Georgetown University and return to Cameroon and continue their research at the Biotechnology Center, University of Yaounde. Their research focuses on different aspects of malaria, including immunology, pathology, biochemistry, data-management, and molecular biology. Each year, a number of Cameroonian graduate and medical students participate in research on malaria at the Biotechnology Center and 3-4 day workshop is conducted in Cameroon based on the theme "Malaria: Improved Health for Mothers and Children."

D43TW001271- Training in International Maternal and Child Nutrition
Kathleen Rasmussen, PhD
Cornell University
Division of Nutritional Sciences
111 Savage Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-6301
Ph: (607) 255-2290
Fax: (607) 255-1033/-2290
Email: kmr5@cornell.edu

This program builds on the world-renowned strengths in research and training in maternal and child nutrition and in international nutrition of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. This program is building capacity for research in Bangaldesh (ICDDR,B, Centre for Health and Population Research) and Tanzania (Pemba Public Health Laboratory in Zanzibar) East Africa and South Asia by: (a) collaborating with existing research centers in this region to identify suitable trainees, (b) long-term engagement with trainees as they study at Cornell University and plan their future research, (c) consistent interactions between faculty from Cornell and collaborating institutions in the supervision of the research of trainees, (d) participation of faculty from Cornell and foreign collaboration institutions in other mutually beneficial, short-term training activities. In this program, individuals are being trained to link knowledge from the basic biological sciences to research conducted at the population level. Areas of expertise include biochemistry and molecular biology, nutritional physiology, public health nutrition, epidemiology, nutrition education, physical and cultural anthropology, nutrition policy, statistics, and nutritional surveillance.

The training and research capacity building efforts of the following three grants are meant to facilitate the research to be undertaken via the linked applications funded under the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Global Network on Women's and Children's Health Research (http://www.nichd.nih.gov/new/releases_bak_20040224/sites.cfm)

D43TW005492 - Latin American Perinatal Health Training Program
Pierre Buekens,MD, PhD
Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Dean
1440 Canal St., Ste. 2430
New Orleans, LA 70112
Ph: (504) 588-5397
Fax: (504) 588-5718
Email: pbuekens@tulane.edu

The main objectives of this program is to enhance perinatal health research training opportunities for scholars and clinicians from the Latin American region and to encourage greater interagency collaboration and boost infrastructure development in centers already involved in maternal and perinatal research. The program, originally based in the Department of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) of the School of Public Health, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) was transferred to the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2003. Collaborations continue with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM) and the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics at UNC. The major foreign collaborator is the Latin American Center of Perinatology (CLAP), based in Uruguay. The training program seeks the participation of individuals involved in the perinatal research activities of CLAP. These individuals are being recruited from CLAP headquarters in Montevideo, Uruguay, and from collaborating hospitals throughout Argentina and Uruguay for pre-doctoral, postdoctoral and short term training. It is linked to a research award (U01HD040477) of a cluster randomized controlled trial of a behavioral intervention that will increase the use of two evidence-based birth practices, the selective use of episiotomies and active management of the third stage of labor in physicians in Argentina and Uruguay.

D43TW0005497 - UAB-AKU: Intl Maternal & Child Health Research/Training
Sten Vermubnd, MD PhD
University of Alabama, Birmingham
845 19th Street, Bevill
Birmingham, Alabama 35294-2170
Ph: (205) 975-7700
Fax: (205) 934-5600
Email:sten@uab.edu

The purpose of this program is to strengthen and sustain, through collaborative research and training, the capability of Pakistani scientists to contribute to maternal and child health research efforts. The training program addresses factors appropriate to Pakistan that contribute to poor pregnancy outcomes and the poor health status of mothers and children in Pakistan and builds on a research and training relationship between Aga Khan University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. This training program is intended to be multidisciplinary and to include both biomedical, socio-cultural and behavioral research issues. In the spirit of developing AKU as a regional center for training excellence, the training plan is designed in collaboration with our AKU partners, and involves intensive short-term training at UAB combined with long-term applied research training at AKU. It is linked to a research award (U01HD0 40607), designed to initiate an observational study of infections and other risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes and to plan a randomized trail of chlorhexidine vaginal wash and/or antibiotics to reduce infection related neonatal morbidity and mortality.

D43TW005503- International Maternal & Child Health Research/Training
Jeffrey Murray, MD
University of Iowa
Department of Pediatrics
140 EMRB
Iowa City, IA 52242
Ph; (319) 335-6897
Fax: (319) 335-6970
Email: jeff-murray@uiowa.edu

This research training programs supports several projects related to birth defects and molecular parasitology in exchanges between the U.S. and various South American countries with emphasis on Brazil (University of Sao Paulo,University of Rio de Janeiro,University of State of Sao Paulo, Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Norto, and Universidad da Bahia). It provides extended post-doctoral or pre-doctoral exchanges for laboratory training on research related to the sequence analysis of genes involved in cleft lip and palate, to genome-wide searches for genes involved in cleft lip and palate, gene identification studies, gene: environment interactions in cleft lip and palate and molecular parasitology. Short-term training includes activities for South American students to come to the United States, or for students from the U.S. to spend time in South America and a yearly conference in South America on some aspect of molecular genetics. It is linked to a research award (U01HD0 HD040561), designed to will study the association between folic acid supplementation and cleft lip and cleft palate in a high-risk population.

Contacts

Please contact the relevant U.S. program director for country-specific information, necessary qualifications, eligibility, and application procedures. Scientists from the participating countries are eligible to apply for these training programs. Scientists from countries other than those listed may wish to contact the Fogarty International Center at the following address for further information and suggestions as to which programs may be able to accommodate their interests:

Jeanne McDermott, C.N.M., M.P.H., Ph.D.
Program Officer
Division of International Training and Research 
Fogarty International Center 
National Institutes of Health 
Building 31, Room B2C39
31 Center Drive, MSC 2220
Bethesda, MD 20892-2220
Telephone: 301-496-1653

Fax: 301-402-0779 
E-mail: mcdermoj@mail.nih.gov

Archive

The announcement for this program appeared in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts on March 9, 2000, RFA: TW-00-007.

An announcement for the previous competition (1999) of this program appeared in the NIH Guide on March 4, 1999, RFA: TW-99-002.