Baylor-Cayetano Heredia Training Program in Global Infe*

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a new training grant submitted for the Global Infectious Disease Research Training Program. This program will take advantage of the rich investigative environment at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) to train outstanding physicians from the Institute of Tropical Medicine (IMT), Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Training will focus on diseases targeted by IMT, taking advantage of ongoing research opportunities in clinical and laboratory investigation at BCM in diarrheal diseases and immunoparasitology. One trainee will be selected to enter the proposed training program per year by a committee headed by IMT faculty based on the candidate's outstanding academic potential and commitment to return to Peru to work at IMT in global infectious diseases. Each trainee will undergo 2 years of rigorous scientific training at BCM. Trainees will enroll in courses from BCM's graduate school and BCM's NIH K30-supported clinician scientist training program, providing them a strong knowledge base in immunology or epidemiology, principals of conducting clinical research, and ethical conduct of research. Trainees will be comprehensively mentored in hypothesis-driven research, preparation of manuscripts for publication, presentations at national meetings, preparation of grant proposals, and academic career development. Trainees in immunoparasitology will work in the BCM Biology of Inflammation Center, which includes 20,000 sq ft of contiguous, newly renovated laboratory space and houses a highly interactive critical mass of investigators and trainees, focused on the immune response. Mentors, selected from NIH-funded principal investigators in the center, will provide training in the human mucosal immune response, cellular immunology and cytokine/chemokine interactions related to intestinal protozoan and helminth infections. Training in diarrheal disease will be based at the Center for Infectious Diseases, at the University of Texas School of Public Health. Trainees will work in collaboration with ongoing international investigations of diarrheal diseases in travelers and endemic populations or with the NIH-sponsored enteric challenge core of the BCM vaccine treatment evaluation unit. All trainees and their BCM mentors will be required to submit grant applications during the second year of training. During a third year, trainees will receive salary support during their initial 6 months on the IMT faculty, allowing them protected time to establish independent research agendas and time to establish collaborations. The goals of this training program are to develop and mentor physician-scientists committed to global infectious diseases, to provide them with the tools needed to obtain independent funding, and mentor them as international leaders in global Infectious Diseases.