Fogarty awards $13M in new HIV research training grants

July / August 2016 | Volume 15, Number 4

To help developing countries address the issues that are emerging as their HIV epidemics evolve, Fogarty and NIH partners are investing up to $13 million over five years to support new awards in HIV research training. Fifteen grants in a dozen countries will be funded. Research training topics include AIDS-related cancers; cardio-metabolic complications of HIV and its treatments; and prevention and control strategies.

A researcher in a lab wearing lab coat and gloves works with samples, another researcher looks on

Photo by Richard Lord for Fogarty

Fogarty continues to build capacity for HIV/AIDS
research by awarding $13 million to support 15
new training programs.

Funding comes through Fogarty's HIV Research Training Program, designed to build capacity in a specific area at an institution in a low- and middle-income country (LMIC). It’s the Center’s latest effort in nearly 30 years of support for HIV research training.

“Partnerships between U.S. scientists and colleagues in LMICs have produced significant advances in HIV/AIDS,” says Fogarty Director Dr. Roger I. Glass. “We must continue to support research training so that developing countries are able to tackle the prevention, treatment and care research agendas they are defining as their respective epidemics evolve.”

The bulk of the funding supports five-year programs, many of which are in sub-Saharan Africa where two-thirds of all people with HIV live, according to UNAIDS. Three of those projects focus on the relationship between HIV/AIDS and other diseases. In Zambia, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln will partner with the country’s only major cancer treatment center and University of Zambia Medical School for training in HIV-related cancer biology and genomics. In Rwanda, clinical investigators will be developed to address HIV, antiretroviral therapies and cardio-metabolic complications, such as hypertension and diabetes. A non-governmental organization in Rwanda, the Regional Alliance for Sustainable Development, received the grant and will collaborate with U.S. investigators from Washington University School of Medicine. Scientists in Mali will advance their study of HIV and mycobacterial infections, such as tuberculosis, in a program led by Northwestern University.

In Zimbabwe, training will focus on clinical pharmacology research related to antiretroviral therapies, under a grant to the University at Buffalo. To further strengthen laboratory-based research capacity in Uganda, Case Western Reserve University will educate scientists in basic microbiology and immunology for research in HIV and HIV/AIDS-related diseases.

Other research training awards will focus on gaps in HIV prevention and care. In Nigeria, researchers will receive training from the University of Maryland, Baltimore to address barriers to lowering transmission in a country with more than 3 million people living with HIV. In Kazakhstan, where high rates of injection drug use contribute to HIV, the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center will provide training in implementation science research. And, in Vietnam, the University of California, Los Angeles program will stress methodologies to design, guide and evaluate HIV prevention and control practices among key populations in the HIV epidemic.

Smaller, three-year training grants will help improve the research infrastructure at LMIC institutions in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The programs will provide training in research administration and grants management; information and communications technologies needed for current research; and in-country research ethics committees.

Two-year planning grants, awarded to institutions in Botswana, Uganda, India and Georgia, will help them develop concepts for their own research training programs and prepare to apply for further funding. Two of the grants focus on biostatistics, which is a critical area to support research, and one supports development of biomedical engineering related to HIV/TB.

Fogarty's partners in the effort are the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH).

2016 Fogarty HIV Research Training Program Awards

5-year International Research Training Grants

Case Western Reserve University
Microbiology and Immunology Training for HIV and HIV-Related Research in Uganda (MITHU)
Contact Principal Investigator/Project Leader: Dr. Henry Boom
Northwestern University
HIV and Mycobacterial Disease in Mali
Principal Investigators: Dr. Robert L. Murphy (contact); Dr. Souleymane Diallo
Regional Alliance for Sustainable Development (RASD Rwanda)
HIV- and ART-associated Cardiometabolic Research Training in Rwanda
Contact Principal Investigator/Project Leader: Dr. Eugene Mutimura
State University of New York Downstate Medical Center
KNMU-SUNY HIV Research Training Program
Contact Principal Investigator/Project Leader: Dr. Jack A. Dehovitz
University at Buffalo
HIV Research Training Program
Contact Principal Investigator/Project Leader: Dr. Gene D. Morse
University of California, Los Angeles
UCLA/Vietnam Training Program in Evaluation and Advanced Methodologies
Contact Principal Investigator/Project Leader: Dr. Li Li
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Epidemiology Research Training for Public Health Impact in Nigeria (Epi-Nigeria)
Principal Investigators: Dr. Manhattan E. Charurat (contact); Dr. Alash’le G. Abimiku
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
AIDS Malignancies Training and Research International Program (AMTRIP)
Contact Principal Investigator/Project Leader: Dr. Charles Wood