Interdisciplinary malaria research training in Malawi

 描述（由申请人提供）：疟疾仍然是马拉维健康和生命的最大威胁之一，最近的控制工作只取得了一定的成功。必须对决定风险的因素以及如何设计更有效的干预措施有新的认识，以加强控制并最终消除该区域的疟疾。这个全球传染病研究培训计划是建立在马拉维大学医学院高级教师和几十年来一直在马拉维从事疟疾研究的国际研究人员核心团队之间长期和富有成效的合作基础上的。该培训计划旨在培训马拉维独立研究团队所需的专家，这些团队能够设计，领导和分析当地和国际相关研究的结果，并在马拉维大学创建一个强大和可持续的研究生课程。精心挑选和培训一名分子流行病学家、一名病媒生物学家和两名生物统计学家，将培养卫生研究议程的领导人，重点是假设驱动的科学问题。我们还将提供具体研究方法的正式短期课程培训，并为实验室轮换量身定制机会，以提供继任计划，为未来的博士候选人和支持他们的初级教师创建一个管道。通过培训小组成员的直接监督、指导和辅导，这些受训人员将受益于出色的教学教育，并受益于经验丰富的同事和目前在马拉维任教的应届毕业生提供的实践指导。该跨学科培训计划旨在实现以下具体目标：（1）培养分子流行病学，病媒生物学和生物统计学方面的成功调查人员，（2）为马拉维严格，独立的博士课程建立核心教师队伍，以及（3）支持马拉维未来博士学员和导师的继任计划。培训的具体领域被确定为对马拉维正在进行和今后的卫生研究至关重要，反映了合作机构（马里兰州大学、密歇根州立大学和威特沃特斯兰德大学）的优势，并与马拉维大学内出现的机会产生协同作用。交叉、创新、执行良好和专业分析的研究将解决疟疾治疗、预防和减少传播的具体挑战。此外，所有受训人员在这项拟议工作中发展的技能将广泛适用于 传染性和非传染性疾病。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Malaria continues to be one of the greatest threats to health and life in Malawi, and recent control efforts have yielded only moderate success. New insights into what determines risk and how to design more effective interventions are imperative to enhance control and ultimately eliminate malaria in the region. This Global Infectious Diseases Research Training Program is established on the basis of long-standing and productive collaborations between senior faculty members at the University of Malawi College of Medicine and a core team of international investigators who have been engaged in malaria research in Malawi for decades. The training program was crafted to train the experts required to develop independent research teams in Malawi capable of designing, leading and analyzing results of locally and internationally relevant studies, and to create a robust and sustainable graduate program in Malawian universities. Careful selection and training of a molecular epidemiologist, a vector biologist and two biostatisticians will prepare leaders in the health research agenda, focused on hypothesis-driven scientific questions. We will also provide formal short course training in specific research methods and tailor opportunities for laboratory rotations to provide succession planning to create a pipeline of future PhD candidates and the junior faculty members who support them. Through the direct supervision, guidance and mentorship of the training team members, these trainees will benefit from outstanding didactic educations and also from the hands-on mentoring provided by experienced colleagues and recent graduates who are now faculty members in Malawi. This interdisciplinary training program is designed achieve the following specific aims: (1) Train successful investigators in molecular epidemiology, vector biology and biostatistics, (2) Establish core faculty for a rigorous, independent PhD program in Malawi, and (3) Support succession planning for future PhD trainees and mentors within Malawi. The specific areas of training were identified as essential to on-going and future health research in Malawi, reflect strengths of the collaborating institutions (University of Maryland, Michigan State University and University of the Witwatersrand), and create synergies with emerging opportunities within the University of Malawi. Cross- cutting, innovative, well-executed and expertly analyzed studies will address specific challenges of malaria treatment, prevention, and transmission reduction. In addition, the skill sets developed by all the trainees in this proposed effort will be applicable to a wide range of infectious as well as non-communicable diseases.