Training in Parasitic Diseases and Central Nervous System Infections in Peru.

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This training grant will utilize an existing research infrastructure in Peru to train Peruvian scientists and health professionals in infectious disease research. This proposal expands on the foundation of a successful, longstanding, NIH-funded training and research collaboration between the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) in Lima, Peru and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (JHSPH). Over the past 20 years, this program has trained over 67 Peruvians and 223 graduate and post-graduate students of other nationalities. In Peru, a mentorship program will be used to train students in research methodology. The specific aims of this program are (1) to train two Peruvian students at the Masters level at UPCH in Public Health and/or Biochemistry; (2) to set up one three-day research seminar to train individuals from outside Lima in cestode and molecular biology research methodology, as well as bioethics, responsible research, and grant writing skills; (3) to enable fifteen Peruvian students to attend the Tropical Medicine and Public Health Summer Institute at JHSPH over a five year period; and (4) to train two Peruvian PhD candidates at JHSPH in International Health over a five year period (5). Training will occur within a broad-based infectious disease research program, with primary emphasis on Chagas? disease, cysticercosis, and tuberculosis. Other specific diseases to be targeted include Parasitic Diseases in general (diphyllobothriasis, strongiloidiasis, coenurosis), infections of the nervous system, and diarrheal disease. The program also has a long history of successful and innovative investigation in enteric parasitic infections, Helicobacter pylori infection, and more recently, leptospirosis and malaria. Studies in all of these areas are ongoing and provide a wide breadth of training opportunities. The organization of our program is not dependent on any single individual or institution. Rather, it has achieved sustainability because of a wide network of collaborators that include multiple American and foreign universities. Mentorship will be provided by local scientists as well as by visiting faculty from overseas institutions.