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Dr. Joseph Tucker, Director of UNC Project-China, discusses an initiative to increase HIV and syphilis testing in China with research assistant Kaidi Wang.

Training

The UNC Project-China team received a five-year Global Infectious Diseases grant from the Fogarty International Center, the only such award in China. The purpose of this training grant is to nurture the next generation of STD/HIV researchers, drawing on the growing pool of “sea turtles.” This term refers to Chinese researchers who go abroad to the Unites States for a doctoral program and then return to China for faculty positions. Two of the three initial postdoctoral fellows recruited for this grant were sea turtles and have been highly productive, resulting in publications in The Lancet and Clinical Infectious Diseases. This project is unique because of the substantial co-funding from colleagues at the Guangdong Provincial Centers for STD Control and Prevention, Sun Yat-sen University, and the Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital.

The South China-UNC STI Research Training Center hosted a week-long, intensive training course for sexual health researchers in July 2014. The course was attended by 57 junior trainees who gave the course high ratings. The Training Center is supported by a five-year Fogarty International Center grant and annually evaluated by a Training Advisory Group.

Below are other training opportunities available at UNC Project China.

Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellowship (Guangzhou, Nanjing, or Beijing)

The Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellowship (DDICRF) offered through UNC is designed to encourage medical students to pursue clinical research careers by exposing them to exciting research opportunities in developing countries. Students who are matriculated at any US-based medical school are eligible for the DDICRF. Students who participate in the DDICRF program will take a year off from medical school to conduct international clinical research under the direction of a mentor working in global health. Each fellow will work with a mentor to formulate a specific research project, write up the protocol and follow the protocol through the relevant approval processes. The student will then take primary responsibility for initiating and conducting the study. UNC offers DDICRF opportunities in China and Malawi. LEARN MORE

Fogarty-Fulbright Awards in Public Health (Beijing and Nanjing)

Fulbright-Fogarty Awards offered in partnership between the Fulbright Program and the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been established to promote the expansion of research in public health and clinical research in resource-limited settings. All awards are for nine months required at the overseas site. Awards will carry the benefits of Fulbright Full Grants to the country of assignment. The Fogarty International Center, NIH, will provide support to the research training site and orientation of the fellows at NIH.

U.S. students who are currently enrolled in medical school or a graduate-level program and who are interested in global health can apply for this fellowship. The basic requirements and process for applying for the Fulbright-Fogarty Program are the same as for any Fulbright U.S. Student Study/Research Grant. LEARN MORE

Fulbright Grants (any China site)

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or English Teaching Assistantships. A candidate will submit a Statement of Grant Purpose defining activities to take place during one academic year in a country outside the U.S. During their grants, Fulbrighters will meet, work, live with and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences. The program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home, and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things, and the way they think. Through engagement in the community, the individual will interact with their hosts on a one-to-one basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding. LEARN MORE

IDSA Medical Scholar Summer Program

Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) Education and Research Foundation offers scholarships to medical students in U.S. medical schools with mentorship by an IDSA member or fellow. Each scholarship recipient will receive $2,000: $1,500 to be disbursed in June/July, with the remaining $500 awarded at the conclusion of the project and submission of a final report to IDSA. LEARN MORE

Fogarty fellow Kate Muessig (second from left) with her colleagues. Kate worked on a leprosy project during her Fogarty year.

Fogarty Global Health Fellows Coordinating Center (NIH R25)

UNC, Johns Hopkins University, Morehouse University School of Medicine, and Tulane University have formed a consortium to launch the Fogarty Global Health Fellows program (FGHF). This consortium brings together four U.S. top-ranked universities and 17 primary international research training sites in Africa, Asia and South America. Fifty- nine mentors have been identified across the universities’ various disciplines in medicine, public health and the basic sciences. This program is best suited for advanced post-doctoral researchers in a junior faculty position who have completed an Institutional Research Training Grant (T32) in any of the health science disciplines. Funding can also be used for travel alone and research supplements for junior faculty with K awards who wish to spend the year overseas. Funding is also available for early- stage postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students from schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and veterinary medicine. LEARN MORE

Service

Our service goal at UNC-Project China is to better understand the clinical needs of China and foreigners living there in order to structure preventative and treatment services as well as inform health policy. UNC and Chinese organizations partner to prevent, treat and research non-communicable diseases, HIV and STIs, maternal and child health, health and migration, nutrition, obesity and other global health areas.

In March 2012, UNC Project-China launched a pilot African clinic at the Guangdong Provincial STI Control Center. This is the first clinic in China focused on serving the needs of the growing African diaspora and the first with a formally designated community liaison supported by the Guangdong provincial health authorities. Guangzhou has over 200,000 Africans and many are vulnerable to HIV and other STIs.