Funding for SUNY Downstate’s International AIDS Training Program is Renewed:
Jun 15, 2010
Program to Expand into Ukraine and Kazakhstan
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University’s AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) has been renewed by the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center with a grant totaling $3.7 million over five years. AITRP is a federal government-supported collaboration between SUNY Downstate and the New York State Department of Health, and is part of the New York State International Training and Research Program.
AITRP provides training for scientists in low- and middle-income countries to strengthen research and public health capacities related to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis, and other emerging infections. Currently operating in Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, and Russia, the grant will enable the program to expand into Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
The program was initially funded in 1993 to focus on epidemiology and basic science training in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. The primary mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS and certain other communicable diseases in Eastern Europe has been intravenous drug use.
During the past 16 years, AITRP has provided support for 76 long-term trainees. They have published more than 650 articles and have risen to positions of academic and public health leadership regionally and internationally. “It’s been exciting to see this program evolve and expand in response to the challenges of the HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe,” said AITRP Principal Investigator Jack A. DeHovitz, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at SUNY Downstate. “With its emphasis on population-based research, the AITRP program fosters the development of young scientists to explore the fundamental research questions in a region where HIV infection rates have had dramatic increase, which is the case in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.”
###
About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn is one of four academic health centers (AMCs) in The State University of New York (SUNY) 64-campus system and the only SUNY AMC in New York City dedicated to health education, research, and patient care for the borough’s 2.7 million residents. Its flagship hospital, University Hospital at Downstate (UHD), is a teaching hospital and benefits from the expertise of Downstate’s exceptional medical school and world-class academic center research facilities. With a staff of over 800 physicians representing 53 specialties and subspecialties, Downstate offers comprehensive healthcare services to the community.
UHD provides high-risk neonatal and infant services, pediatric nephrology, and dialysis for kidney diseases and is the only kidney transplantation program in Brooklyn. Beyond its clinical expertise, Downstate houses a range of esteemed educational institutions, including its College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies, and School of Public Health. Downstate fosters innovation through its multifaceted biotechnology initiative, the Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, which support early-stage and more mature biotech companies.