Fogarty International Center and its partners at the National Institutes of Health are building a network of US academic institutions to provide early-career physicians, veterinarians, dentists and scientists with a significant mentored research experience in a developing country.

About $20.3 million in total will be awarded over the next five years to support 400 early-career health scientists on nearly year-long research fellowships in 27 low- and middle-income countries. The Fogarty Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars programme will provide five consortia of academic institutions with about $4 million each over five years, to support the training activities of a total of 20 partner institutions. In addition to Fogarty, 15 NIH institutes and centres plan to contribute funds to the effort.

Each consortium will develop and support global health research training programs that provide focused mentoring for participants and diverse clinical research experiences at approximately 80 established research sites in low-resource settings. Programme trainees will study the traditional global health problems such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and maternal and child health, and will address the chronic non-communicable diseases that cause a majority of deaths in developing countries, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

“In combining the enthusiasm of today's young scientists with the knowledge and wisdom of America's global health leaders, we are forming a powerful network to produce a new generation of stellar researchers capable of working in the global arena,” said Dr. Roger I. Glass, Fogarty's director.“This programme will leverage the considerable experience, relationships and infrastructure the 20 US partners have built in developing countries around the globe, together with the depth and diversity of their subject matter expertise, to ensure our alumni are well-equipped to tackle the world's most pressing health problems.”

The programme will enhance the career trajectory of the participants, strengthen the global health research programmes at US and foreign institutions, and will bolster networking among program alumni and senior scientist mentors. Eighty percent of the programme's trainees will be post-doctoral fellows, with 20 per cent entering as doctoral students.

Participating institutions were required to demonstrate they possess the capacity to provide outstanding mentored global health research education experiences, existing robust research and training activities at a developing country site, and established relationships among consortia members.

Since 2004, Fogarty has supported more than 500 fellows and scholars for significant hands-on, clinical research training experiences in low- and middle-income countries. The programme was most recently managed by a coordinating centre at Vanderbilt University.

NIH entities supporting the programme include: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development , National Cancer Institute , National Eye Institute , National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute , National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases , National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research , National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases , National Institute on Drug Abuse , National Institute of General Medical Sciences , National Institute of Mental Health , National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke , National Institute of Nursing Research , Office of Research on Women's Health and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.

The 2012 Fogarty Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars awards: University of California, Berkeley— Consortium lead; Florida International University, Miami; Stanford University, Stanford, California; Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

University of California Global Health Institute— Consortium lead; University of California, Davis; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, San Diego; University of California, San Francisco

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill—Consortium lead: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Morehouse University, Atlanta; Tulane University, New Orleans

University of Washington, Seattle—Consortium lead: University of Hawaii, Honolulu; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.—Consortium lead: Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Duke University, Durham, North Carolina;
Emory University, Atlanta.

Fogarty, the international component of the NIH, addresses global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs and supports and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships.