U.S. grantees will work with international colleagues to build global HIV/AIDS research capacity and help prevent HIV transmission through development of HIV/AIDS international training and research programs for health scientists, clinicians, and allied health workers in regions of the developing world. They will collaborate with countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Far East, as well as Russia and newly independent states in Eastern Europe.

First funded in 1988, the program aims to train developing country scientists to address more effectively the AIDS epidemic through prevention research, combining biomedical and behavioral interventions.

"The AITRP represents the international training arm of NIH's HIV research effort," said FIC Director Gerald T. Keusch, M.D. "It continues to increase the international research capacity of our domestic institutions, as well as those of developing nations."

Since its inception, the program has established a core of highly trained clinical and epidemiological investigators in regions of the world that may become the site of international HIV vaccine trials when such a vaccine is available for widespread testing; conducted studies on HIV susceptibility among individuals with repeated risk exposures who remain uninfected; supported efforts to understand factors related to maternal-fetal transmission of the virus and develop and test approaches to interrupt such transmission; and provided findings on prevention of opportunistic diseases resulting from HIV infection.

Over the ten year course of this program, 1,500 scientists from 100 nations have trained in the U.S. and 650 in-country courses have been conducted, benefiting more than 43,000 health scientists around the world.

The following were successful applicants for new awards and competing renewals:

• *Emory University (Program Director, Dr. Carlos del Rio). Collaborating countries:
  Republic of Georgia, Mexico, Vietnam;
• *University of Alabama, Birmingham (Program Director, Dr. Sten Vermund). Collaborating countries:
  Bangladesh, Mongolia, Pakistan, Zambia;
• *University of Maryland, Baltimore (Program Director: Dr. William A. Blattner). Collaborating countries:
  Barbados, Brazil, Jamaica, Trinidad/Tobago;
• *University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Program Director: Dr. Adaora A. Adimora). Collaborating Countries:
  Cameroon, China
• *University of Pittsburgh (Program Director: Dr. Lee Harrison). Collaborating Country: Brazil;
• *Yale University (Program Director: Dr. Michael Merson). Collaborating Country: Russia
• Case Western Reserve University (Program Director: Dr. Christopher Whalen). Collaborating Country: Uganda;
• Cornell University Medical College (Program Director: Dr. Warren Johnson) Collaborating countries: Brazil, Haiti.
• Harvard University (Program Director: Dr. Max Essex). Collaborating Countries: Botswana, Senegal, Tanzania, Thailand;
• Johns Hopkins University (Program Director: Dr. Chris Beyrer) Collaborating Countries: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Malawi, Malaysia, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda;
• University of California, Berkeley (Program Director: Dr. Arthur Reingold). Collaborating Countries: Botswana, Brazil, Cote d'Ivoire, Thailand, Vietnam, Zimbabwe;
• University of California, Los Angeles (Program Director: Dr. Roger Detels). Collaborating Countries: Cambodia, China, India, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam;
• University of Miami (Program Director: Dr. Marianna Baum). Collaborating Countries; Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Zambia; and
• University of Washington, Seattle (Program Director: Dr. Joan Kreiss). Collaborating Countries: Kenya, Mozambique, Peru, Thailand.

  (New awards are indicated by *)

Additional information on this program may be obtained by contacting Dr. Kenneth Bridbord, Director, FIC Division of International Training and Research at: phone: 301-496-2516; fax: 301-496-2056; e-mail: bridbord@nih.gov.

FIC is a component of the NIH and supports international collaboration in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Press releases and other information about FIC are available on the Internet at: http://www.nih.gov/fic.