Updated August 2003 

Since 1993, the Fogarty International Center (FIC) and the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) (formerly the NIH Office of Research on Minority Health) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have jointly supported scientific training programs that offer international research training opportunities to qualified minority undergraduates, graduate and medical students underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral research careers. 

The Minority International Research Training (MIRT) program is a component in the long-term National Institutes of Health (NIH) strategy to decrease health disparities between minority and majority groups in the U.S.  The MIRT grants are designed to offer research training opportunities to qualified eligible students and faculty to participate in international biomedical and behavioral research programs abroad. The proposed training program is expected to increase awareness of international research issues and opportunities, acquaint students with a range of career opportunities in biomedical and behavioral research and encourage participants to pursue post-baccalaureate degrees and careers in biomedical and behavioral research especially related to minority health problems. The program is also expected to enhance the training efforts and international collaborative research activities of the faculty participants.

The Undergraduate Program

Programs give undergraduate research training priority by selecting approximately 75% undergraduate participants out of at least ten participants per year. It is suggested that undergraduate participants have completed approximately two years of coursework in a major related to biomedical or behavioral science, a minimum GPA of 3.0 and/or show other evidence of exceptional scientific interest and talent. Previous undergraduate research experience is recommended before entering the MIRT program. The duration of the undergraduate training abroad is ten to twelve weeks.

Graduate and Medical Student Participants

Approximately 25% of the student participants are graduate or medical students each year. Priority is given to students who wish to perform research especially pertinent to health disparities among underserved groups in the U.S. or in developing countries. Programs can support medical students who show evidence of commitment to pursuing a career in research. Graduate and medical students must be involved in original data collection. Routine clinical or lab work, coursework or training in scientific techniques alone are not the objective of the training supported by this RFA except in so far as they allow the students to be involved in original data collection. The duration of the training abroad for graduate and medical students is ten to twelve weeks.

U.S. Faculty Participants

The program director is responsible for selecting and matching student participants and faculty mentors, screening training plans for foreign sites and coordinating the activities of the program in which all trainees participate. The program director is also responsible for coordinating evaluations of program participants and submitting annual progress reports and trainee tracking data to the Fogarty International Center. Other U.S. faculty participants who serve as mentors for student participants must have doctoral degrees and full-time appointments at the applicant institution or at an institution in an associated consortium. U.S. faculty mentorship may be supported at foreign sites in developing countries. If a minority faculty member is not available, any faculty member who meets the eligibility criteria may serve as a mentor.

Foreign Faculty Participants

International research training is planned at universities or research institutions where U.S. faculty participants have ongoing collaborative research relationships. Foreign research collaborators with doctoral degrees and full-time positions serve as mentors for students training at the foreign site(s).  Foreign mentors may make short visits to the U.S. applicant institution or associated consortia institutions to participate in MIRT program associated student training and related collaborative research activities.

Current MIRT Programs

Students: Please contact the relevant U.S. program director for country-specific information, necessary qualifications, eligibility, and application procedures.

T37 TW00113
Dr. Gary King
Penn State University
Department of Behavioral Health
E-315 Henderson Building
University Park, PA 16802
E-mail: gxk14@psu.edu
Telephone: 814-863- 8184
Fax: 814-863- 7525
Application Deadline: TBA
Note: The Penn State University MIRT Program does not encourage applications from medical students.
France: Smoking Epidemiology
Senegal: Smoking, AIDS Epidemiology
South Africa: AIDS Epidemiology
 

T37 TW00108
Dr. Fannie Gaston-Johansson
Johns Hopkins University
535 N. Wolfe Street, Room 437
Baltimore, MD 21205-2110
E-mail: wbell@son.jhmi.edu
Telephone: 410-955- 8220
Fax: 410-614- 8285
Application Deadline: November 12, 2001 (For 2002 Summer  Session)
Sweden A: Pain, Health Status and Quality of Life
Sweden B: Muscle Physiology
South Africa A: Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle
South Africa B: Violence Against Women and Women's Health
Australia: The Biology of Stress
PLEASE NOTE: This program is limited to students at Johns Hopkins University Schools of Nursing, Medicine, Arts & Sciences; the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Winston-Salem State University; and students whose institutions are members of the Leadership Alliance at Brown University.
 

T37 TW00023
Dr. Luis P. Villarreal
Minority Science Programs
School of Biological Sciences
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
University of California, Irvine
Contact: Dr. Luis Mota-Bravo
409 Steinhaus Hall
School of Biological Sciences
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-2527
Telephone: 949-824-6463
Fax: 949-824-6599
E-mail: lmota@uci.edu
Application Deadline: March 3
Web site: http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~bio/msp/
Mexico: Cancer
Spain: Virology, Neurobiology/ Behavior
 

T37 TW00024
Dr. Charles L. Ortiz
Department of Biology
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Telephone: 831-459-2247
Fax: 831-459-3636
E-mail: ortiz@biology.ucsc.edu
Application Deadline: Anytime
Website: http://www.biology.ucsc.edu/mirt
Argentina, Mexico, and New Zealand:
1) Physiology, Behavior, Population Genetics of animals in natural habitats
2) Potential Mutual Impacts of human interactions with wild animal populations 
 

T37 TW00025
Dr. Robert Glew
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
BMSB Room 249
University of New Mexico
915 Sanford Street, NE, BMSB 249
Albuquerque, NM 87131-5221
Tel: 505-272-2362
Fax: 505-272-6587
E-mail: rglew@salud.unm.edu
CONSORTIUM: University of Texas at San Antonio, University of Texas at El Paso, Navajo Community (Dineh) College, New Mexico State University
Application Deadline: October 1 every year
Nigeria: Nutrition and Maternal/Child Health
 

T37 TW01401
Dr. Jordan E. Warnick
Professor and Assistant Dean for Student Education and Research
Office of Student Research
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
660 W. Redwood Street, 324 HH
Baltimore, MD 21201
Telephone: 410-706-3026
Fax: 410-706-0094
E-mail: jwarnick@som.umaryland.edu
Application Deadline: Rolling acceptance, September through April
Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, China, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: HIV/AIDS Research (Epidemiology, Immunology, Molecular Biology, Public Health, Vaccine Development, Virology), Bioethics, Biophysics-Neuroscience, Cardiovascular, Epidemiology/Public Health, Oncology, Pharmacology, Vaccinology
For summer research programs and applications at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and its foreign sites, please visit: http://medschool.umaryland.edu/OSR

T37 TW00032
Dr. Kim Tan
Director of Project Strengthen
Winston-Salem State University
601 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive
Winston-Salem, NC 27110
Telephone: 336-750-2600 
Fax: 336-750-2224
E-mail: ktan@wfubmc.edu
Web site: http://gorams.wssu.edu/mirt/
CONSORTIUM: Bennett College, Hampton University, Medgar Evers College, Tennessee State University,Tougaloo College and Winston-Salem State University
Application Deadline: January 31
Finland (University of Helsinki): Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Cellular and Molecular Biology, microbiology, and Virology
Singapore (National University of Singapore): Molecular Biology and Microbiology

China ( Peking University Health Science Center ): Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  

T37 TW00033
Sister John Karen Frei
School of Natural & Health Sciences
Barry University
11300 NE 2nd Avenue
Miami Shores, FL 33161-6695
Telephone: 305-899-3182
Fax: 305-899-3225
E-mail: jfrei@mail.barry.edu
Application Deadline: January
Italy: Neurobiology
Jamaica: Pharmacology/Chemistry
Korea: Endocrinology
England: Neurobiology
 

T37 TW00035
Dr. Vonnie McLoyd
Dr. Betsy Lozoff, Co-Director
University of Michigan
Center for Human Growth and Development
300 North Ingalls, 10th Floor
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0406
Telephone: 734-764-2443
Fax: 734-936-9288
E-mail: vcmcloyd@umich.edu
Program Administrator: Kathleen L. Restrick
E-mail: restrick@umich.edu
Application Deadline: November 14, 2001
Chile, South Africa, China: Disparities in Child Health and Development
PLEASE NOTE: This program is only open to University of Michigan students.
 

T37 TW00036
Ms. Carol Bender (Co-PD and contact person)
Director, Undergraduate Biology Research Program
Dr. Barbara Timmermann (Program director)
Life Sciences South, Room 348
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721-0106
Telephone: 520-621-9348
Fax: 520-626-5491
E-mail: bender@u.arizona.edu
Application Deadline: At least one semester before travel.  Please contact Ms. Bender for specific deadlines
Web site: http://www.blc.arizona.edu/ubrp/bravo/default.html
Countries include but are not limited to: Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Japan, Australia, England, Spain, France, Italy, Costa Rica, Scotland, the Netherlands, Argentina, South Africa, Sweden: Variety of projects related to the work of the University of Arizona faculty sponsor and their foreign collaborators. Students must have a minimum of six months of research experience with the faculty sponsor on the University of Arizona campus and prepare a project proposal as part of their application.  (The program director for this grant is Dr. Barbara Timmermann).
 

T37 TW00038
Dr. Eugene S. Tull
Department of Epidemiology
University of Pittsburgh
130 Desoto Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Telephone: 412-624-2961
Fax: 412-624-7397
E-mail: est+@pitt.edu
Application Deadline: February 28, 2002
Website: http://www.pitt.edu/~est/mirt.htm
CONSORTIUM: Oakwood College, University of the Virgin Islands
Trinidad: Evaluation of Health Care Delivery
Barbados: Obesity Interventions, Diabetes Risk Factors and Complications
Dominica: Obesity Interventions, Diabetes Risk Factors and Complications
Zimbabwe: Cancer Epidemiology, Ethnopharmacology 
 

T37 TW0039
Dr. Winston A. Anderson
Department of Biology
Howard University
415 College Street, NW
Washington, DC 20059
Telephone: 202-806-6950
Fax: 202-806-4564
E-mail: wanderson@howard.edu
Web site: http://www.biology.howard.edu/mirt/mirtwelcome.html
CONSORTIUM: Brown University, Dartmouth University, Yale University, Cornell University, "Leadership Alliance"
Application Deadline: TBA
Italy: Reproductive Biology and Cellular Biology
Switzerland: Molecular Biology
Ethiopia: Parasitology
Mali: Parasitology
Ghana: Ethnopharmacology
Cameroon: Malaria, Immunology
 

T37 TW00044
Dr. Isai T. Urasa
Hampton University
Turner Hall, Room 220 
Department of Chemistry
Hampton, VA 23668
Telephone: 757-727-5396
Fax: 757-727-5609
E-mail: isai.urasa@hamptonu.edu
Application Deadline: TBA
Website: http://www.hamptonu.edu (Click School of Science,  then click Chemistry Department)
Tanzania: Natural Product Chemistry, Microbiology, Botany, Environmental Chemistry/Environmental Health
Kenya: Environmental Chemistry/Environmental Health
 

T37 TW00045
Dr. George B. Stefano
Neuroscience Research Institute
SUNY/College at Old Westbury
223 Store Hill Road
Old Westbury, NY 11568
Telephone: 516-876-2732
Fax: 516-876-2727
E-mail: gstefano@optonline.net
Application Deadline: TBA
Italy, China, France: Neurobiology
 

T37 TW00046
Dr. George V. Hillyer
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of Puerto Rico
P.O. Box 23300
San Juan, PR 00931-3300
Telephone: 787-756-7700
Fax: 787-751-9210
E-mail: ghillyer@rcm.upr.edu
Application Deadline: TBA
Web site: http://www.rcm.upr.edu/
England, Scotland, Germany, Australia, Spain, Kenya: Parasitology, Tropical Medicine,  Immunology, Molecular Biology
Priority will be given to applicants with collaborative linkages with the foreign sites.
This program is at present open only to University of Puerto Rico (UPR) students for collaborative studies with UPR faculty and their students and mentors at the foreign site.
 

T37 TW0048
Dr. Bruce Weber
California State University, Fullerton
Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry
800 N. State College Blvd.
P.O. Box 6866
Fullerton, CA 92834-6866
Telephone: 714-278-3621
Fax: 714-278-5316
E-mail: bhweber@fullerton.edu
CONSORTIUM: CSU, Dominguez Hills., CSU, Long Beach, CSU, Los Angeles, CSU, Northridge
Application Deadline: February 15
Web site: http://stromboli.fullerton.edu/csu/csuf/mirt/1-10.html
England: Physiology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Science History, Pharmacology, Neurobiology
Mexico: Neurobiology, Microscopy, Biochemistry
Thailand: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Natural Products
 

T37 TW00049
Dr. Michelle Williams, Co-Director
Dr. Virginia Gonzales, Co-Director
Daren Wade, MSW, Program Coordinator
Department of Epidemiology
University of Washington
1959 Northeast Pacific, Box 357236
Seattle, WA 98195
Telephone: 206-543-7559
Fax: 206-543-8525
E-mail: mirt@u.washington.edu
Application Deadline: December 15
Web site: http://depts.washington.edu/epidem
Zimbabwe: Maternal Child Health Epidemiology
Peru: Traditional Healing, HIV/Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Maternal Child Health Epidemiology
Ecuador: Epidemiology
  

T37 TW00052
Dr. Michael Kron
Institute of International Health
Michigan State University
B-301 W. Fee Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824-1315
Telephone: 517-353-8992
Fax: 517-355-1894
E-mail: kron@msu.edu
Application Deadline: To be announced each year in the fall
Web site: http://www.msu.edu/unit/iih/iihprojects/MIRT/MIRT.htm
Brazil: Molecular, Basic and Clinical Research in Hematology, Basic and Clinical Cardiovascular Research
Bulgaria: Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Regulation of the Cardiovascular System, Molecular Genetics of Cardiovascular Disease, Molecular Studies of Environmental Toxicants.
Jamaica: Research on Autism, Parenting, and Development of Low Birth Weight Babies
Mexico: Neurophysiology, Neuroendocrinology, Hypothalamic Control of Female Reproductive Function in Animals
Philippines: Molecular Parasitology; Development of Antiparasitic Vaccines, Immunoparasitology; Epidemiology and Molecular Biology of Human Viral Hepatitis (B, C, E, G)
Spain: Molecular Immunology, Molecular Biology of HIV-1, Molecular Oncology, Molecular Parasitology
Thailand: Epidemiology of Food-Borne-Pathogen Resistance to Antimicrobial Agents in Farming Communities, Studies on the Prevalence of Enteric Parasites in Dairy Cattle and Horses
 

T37 TW00057
Dr. Beverly J. McElmurry
University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing
Global Health Leadership Office
845 South Damen Street, Room 1158, M/C 802
Chicago, IL 60612-7350
Telephone: 312-996-0621
Fax: 312-996-8945
E-mail: ghlo@uic.edu
Web site: http://www.nurs.uic.edu
CONSORTIUM: Case Western Reserve University, Columbia University, George Mason University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of California at San Francisco, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Michigan, University of Texas at Galveston, Howard University
Application Deadline: Email ghlo@uic.edu
Undergraduates, preference for applications received by January 30th each year.
Predoctoral students and faculty, negotiated. Note: Match is made between MIRT Trainee research and host mentor research area.
Thailand: Women's Health/AIDS-HIV, Breast Cancer
Botswana: AIDS/HIV, Peer Health Education
Brazil: Women's Health/Breast Cancer
Colombia: Women's Health/Depression
Malawi: Women's Health/Maternal Child Health, HIV/AIDS Peer Health Education
Chile: Maternal Child Health, Community Health/Primary Health Care
Swaziland: HIV/AIDS
NOTE: Potential for additional countries with Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Nursing/Midwifery Development
 

T37 TW00060
Dr. Robert Nicholls
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
528 Clinical Research Building
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6140
Telephone: 215-573-0919
Fax: 215-573-9687
E-mail: mirt@mail.med.upenn.edu
Application Deadline: December 17, 2003
Web site: http://www.med.upenn.edu/mirt
Belgium: Immunology, Genetics, Cancer, Biochemistry, Physiology
France: Cardiobiology, Neurobiology
Ghana: Sickle Cell Anemia
Japan: Reproductive Biology
Scotland: Molecular Biology
NOTE: This MIRT program is open to all undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in any U.S. institution and is, therefore, open to students outside of the University of Pennsylvania

T37 TW00067
Dr. Robert F. Pozos
Department of Biology
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego State University 
San Diego, CA 92182-4610
Telephone: 619-594-2581
Fax: 619-594-3590
E-mail: bpozos@sciences.sdsu.edu
CONSORTIUM: Albany State University, UC San Diego, University of Minnesota, City College CUNY
Application Deadline: TBA
Canada: Ethnopharmacology
Mexico: Ethnopharmacology, Cognitive Science, Public Health, Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Physiology
Germany: Neurophysiology, Cadiovascular Physiology, Ethnopharmacology, Cognitive Science
Finland: Neurophysiology
Italy: Cardiovascular Physiology
Uganda: HIV/AIDS, Kaposi's sarcoma 
 

T37 TW00073
Dr. Raymond Sis
College of Veterinary Medicine
Texas A&M University
Veterinary Anatomy & Public Health
College Station, TX 77843
Telephone: 409-845-4889
Fax: 409-847-8981
E-mail: rsis@cvm.tamu.edu
Application Deadline: March 15
Mexico: 
1) UNAM (Mexico City), College of Veterinary Medicine
a) Veterinary Microbiology: Improved Diagnostics for Tuberculosis and Brucellosis
b) Avian Medicine Department: PCR based detection assay for rapid identification of avian-adapted Salmonella serotypes in eggs and chicken; Production of recombinant Interferon Gamma (IFN-gamma).
2) National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico
a) Vector Borne Diseases
b) Epidemiology of the Elderly
c) Epidemiological Studies of Human Tuberculosis
d) Childhood Immunizations
e) Geographic Information Systems
Dominican Republic: 
1) Resistance patterns to Anti-tuberculosis drugs and risk of infections to tuberculosis-associated with HIV
2) Malaria in Haitian immigrants
3) Papilloma virus
4) Epidemiology of Dengue Fever
5) Direct Observation Treatment Program for Tuberculosis
 

T37 TW00074
Dr. Susan C. Opava
Research and Graduate Programs
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Telephone: 805-756-1508
Fax: 805-756-1725
E-mail: sopava@calpoly.edu
Application Deadline: January 31, 2002
Web site: http://www.calpoly.edu/~rgp/MIRA
Spain: Molecular microbiology: mechanisms of anti-microbial resistance in bacterial pathogens
Czech Republic: Neurobiology: role of glial cells and the brain
extracellular space in pathophysiological states (perinatal and
postnatal anoxia, ischemia, brain edema, tumors, aging, Alzheimer's, trauma)
Peru: Nutrition in child health and development: impact and prevention of malnutrition and related illnesses
Mexico: Nutrition and public health: problems of socio-economically disadvantaged populations
 

T37 TW00076
Dr. Eloy Rodriguez
James A. Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies
Natural Products Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory
Plant Biology Department
Biotechnology Bldg 257
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
Telephone: 607-254-2956
Fax: 607-254-2952; 607-255-7979
E-mail: er30@cornell.edu
Application Deadline: TBA
Cornell MIRT-NIH  Biomedicine Drug Discovery
Site 1: Amazon Basin of Venezuela, Peru and Brazil
Site 2: Caribbean Islands of the Dominican Republic and Dominica
Students Tasks:  Field research in the area of infectious diseases in the rainforest and scuba diving around coral reefs.
Laboratory research involving Cornell and Foreign scientists in 
medicinal chemistry and  molecular medicine.  Students sleep in tents, stay at remote villages and interact with local people and 
Indian tribes, with a focus on health issues and drug discovery.
  

T37 TW00077
Dr. Pauline Jolly
School of Public Health
Department of Epidemiology and International Health
University of Alabama at Birmingham
1665 University Blvd.
Ryals Building, Suite 217
Birmingham, AL 35294-0022
Telephone: 205-934-1823
Fax: 205-975-3329
E-mail: jollyp@uab.edu
Application Deadline: January 7, 2002
Web site: http://www-epi.soph.uab.edu/minority_international_research_.htm
Bangladesh: Nutrition, Diarrheal and other Infectious Diseases
Ghana: Onchocerciasis, Health Effects of Aflatoxin Ingestion
Guatemala: Aging, Nutrition and Metabolism
India: Societal Differences in the Treatment of Male and Female Children
Jamaica: Sexually Transmitted Diseases/HIV, HIV/AIDS Education, Maternal and Child Health Care, Health Care Client Satisfaction Survey, Antibiotic Use and Resistance
Peru: Parasitology, Strongyloides, HIV, HTLV-1
Trinidad and Tobago: Health Problems in Tourists

 

T37 TW00090
Mrs. Earnestine Baker
Director Meyerhoff Scholarship Program
University Maryland, Baltimore County
106-k Academic Services Building
100 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD  21250
Telephone: 410-455-3139
Fax: 410-455-1281
E-mail: erbaker@umbc.edu
Application Deadline: TBA
England: Environmental Microbiology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Neurobiology
 
 

T37 TW000132
Dr. Bettaiya Rajanna
School of Arts and Sciences
Alcorn State University
1000 ASU Drive
P.O. Box 870
Department of Biological Sciences
Alcorn State, MS  39096
Telephone: 601-877-6681
E-mail: brajanna@lorman.alcorn.edu
Application Deadline: TBA
India: Toxicology, Parasitology, Immunology, Computer Modeling, Ecology
 

T37 TW000123
Dr. Malinda E.C. Fitzgerald
School of Science
Christian Brothers University
650 East Parkway South
Memphis, TN  38104
Telephone: 901-321-3262
Fax: 901-321-4433
E-mail: malinda@cbu.edu
Web site: http://www.cbu.edu/~aross/biodept/MIRT-CBU.html
CONSORTIUM: St. Jude Child. Res. Hospital, LeMoyne-Owen College, and Tennessee State University
Application Deadline: January 15
Brazil: Neurobiology
 
Students: Please contact the relevant U.S. program director for country-specific information, necessary qualifications, eligibility, and application procedures.

MIRT Program Staff at the Fogarty International Center

Dr. Barbara Sina
MIRT Program Director
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: barbara_sina@nih.gov

Archive

RFA
The most recent announcement for this program (TW-00-001) appeared in the NIH Guide November 22, 1999.