International Partnership for Interdisciplinary Research Training

描述(由申请人提供)：十多年来，芝加哥大学(UC)与伊巴丹大学(UI)和大学学院医院(UCH)合作，支持积极的临床和基础研究项目，以及基于社区的研究，研究导致乳腺癌发病率和表现差异的流行病学和社会文化因素。拟议的“慢性非传染性疾病和疾病跨学科研究培训国际伙伴关系”计划将深化受训者在临床研究中的研究方法技能，并引入与国家合作者表达的需求相一致的重要研究方法方面。感兴趣的方面是一种跨学科的方法，即“横向转移”，受训者接受另一个与健康有关的学科的不同的额外研究培训，如生物伦理学、生物统计学、行为科学、癌症生物学、临床药理学和药物遗传学、经济学、人口学、流行病学、卫生政策、人类遗传学、免疫学、分子病理学和社会科学。这种“横向转移”将提高不同职业层次的受训者制定相关假设、计划适当的研究设计、实施研究结果、促进不同学科研究人员之间的合作的能力，并在一些受训者中加强思想和方法方面的相当大的转变，以预防和治疗对该区域和大陆影响最大的疾病。原型受训者将是那些在计划结束时在他们最熟悉的临床领域深化了她/他的主要研究培训并利用了新的健康相关学科研究方法的人，或者是那些通过硕士或博士级别的培训转向主要关注健康相关学科并专注于给定临床主题的人；两者的目标都是进行基于团队的跨学科研究，从而在实际预防和治疗实践中带来实质性改进。通过整合和重组大学内部现有的研究能力，非洲-美国战略团队将越来越多地全面运作，并扩大研究项目，以开发真正共享的跨学科项目。Ibadan和芝加哥联合培训咨询小组已经选择了项目的重点领域，这些领域是加州大学可以提供研究支持的特定领域。癌症方面的培训计划现已全面实施，在过去十年中已培训了200多名非洲人，预计将在1)其他非传染性疾病，如镰刀细胞病、哮喘/慢性阻塞性肺病、室内污染以及妇女健康方面对416名非洲人进行培训；2)扩展到其他培训方法和健康学科，如牙科、护理和眼科；3)扩展到其他新兴的南南合作项目，例如由UC促进的尼日利亚-坦桑尼亚新伙伴关系；4)通过非洲癌症研究与培训组织和非洲人类遗传学学会扩展到其他非洲国家。 与公共卫生相关：伊巴丹大学作为尼日利亚首屈一指的大学，肩负着历史的重任，必须继续在创造和运用知识促进发展方面发挥领导作用。拟议的国际伙伴关系将使伊巴丹能够实现其目前的愿景，即转型为一所研究生、研究驱动型大学，专注于发展翻译研究能力和技能--以满足该国和整个非洲大陆日益增长的卫生需求。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Chicago (UC) has supported active clinical and basic research programs as well as community-based research into the epidemiology and socio-cultural factors that contribute to disparities in the incidence and expression of breast cancer in partnership with the University of Ibadan (UI) and the University College Hospital (UCH) for more than a decade. The proposed "International Partnership for Interdisciplinary Research Training in Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases and Disorders across the Lifespan" program will deepen research methods skills amongst trainees in clinical research and introduce an important research methods dimension consistent with the needs expressed by in country collaborators. The dimension of interest is an interdisciplinary approach, a "lateral shift", whereby trainees receive distinct added research training in another health related discipline such as bioethics, biostatistics, behavioral science, cancer biology, clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenetics, economics, demography, epidemiology, health policy, human genetics, immunology, molecular pathology, and the social sciences,. This "lateral shift" will increase capacity amongst trainees at various career levels to develop relevan hypotheses, plan appropriate study designs, operationalize research findings, nurture collaborations between investigators of different disciplines and in some trainees potentiate considerable shifts in thinking and approaches to preventing and curing the diseases that most affect this region and continent. Prototype trainees would be those who at the end of the program have deepened her/his primary research training in the clinical field they are most familiar with and has leveraged new health related discipline research methods OR one who has shifted to a primary focus on health related discipline with Masters or PhD level training and focusing on a given clinical topic; both with the goal of conducting team based interdisciplinary research that leads to substantive improvements in practical prevention and treatment practices. By consolidating and reorganizing existing research capacity within UI, strategic African-US teams will increasingly become fully operational and expand upon research projects to develop truly shared interdisciplinary programs. Program areas of focus have been selected by the joint Ibadan and Chicago training advisory group, and are particular areas where the UC can provide research support. The training program in Cancer is now fully operational having trained more than 200 Africans in the past ten years and now will advance to train a projected 416 Africans in 1) other non-communicable disorders such as Sickle Cell Disease, Asthma/COPD and Indoor Pollution as well as Women's Health; 2) expand to additional training methodologies and health disciplines such as dentistry, nursing and ophthalmology; 3) expand to other emerging South-South collaborations such as a new Nigeria-Tanzania partnership fostered by UC and 4) expand to other African countries through the African Organization on Research and Training In Cancer and African Society of Human Genetics. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The University of Ibadan has the burden of history as the premier university in Nigeria to continue to provide leadership in the creation and deployment of knowledge for development. The proposed international partnership will allow Ibadan to realize its present vision of transforming into a postgraduate, research-driven university with focus on the development of translational research capacity and skills-set to meet the growing health needs of the country and the entire continent of Africa.