The Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars Program (FICRS) has announced that Kristin Beima-Sofie of University of Washington School of Public Health has been selected as a Scholar for the 2009-2010 cohort.

Kristin Beima-Sofie, MPH/PhD candidate, and Alfred Osoti, MBChB, MMed will work in Nairobi, Kenya at University of Nairobi under the mentorship of Carey Farquhar, MD, MPH, University of Washington Harborview Medical Center International AIDS Research and Training Program (AIRTP); and James Kiarie,MD, MPH, University of Nairobi, AIRTP.

Kristin earned her MPH in Epidemiology at the UW and now plans to research how genetic factors influence HIV transmission and disease progression in women and children. She has volunteered in a pediatric AIDS clinic in Africa and worked with victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Nearly 100 top graduate students and post-doctoral trainees from the United States and 19 nations have been selected to train in global health research in low- and middle-income countries. The program, supported by the Fogarty International Center, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and 15 other components of the National Institutes of Health, is administered by Vanderbilt University's Institute for Global Health and the Association of American Medical Colleges. A total of 88 Scholars and Fellows were selected and will undergo orientation and training at the National Institutes of Health before departing to 29 sites in 19 countries. Additionally, 11 2008-2009 International Clinical Research Fellows have been competitively chosen to extend their fellowships until June 2010.

Under the Scholars program, U.S. graduate students – mostly third-year medical, public health, dental and veterinary students – are paired with foreign counterparts in order to conduct clinical research abroad under the tutelage of NIH-funded universities or other research institutions working on infectious or chronic diseases. Similarly, FICRS-F post-doctoral trainees are expected to develop and implement their own research projects.

Among the fields of study are: AIDS and related opportunistic infections; malaria; sexually transmitted infections; substance abuse; mental health; oncology; diseases of the heart, lung, and blood; neurology; ophthalmology; and dietary issues.

"These opportunities provide new insights for tomorrow's clinical leaders, both in the United States and in low- and middle-income nations," said Sten Vermund, MD, PhD, who serves as the Principal Investigator of the FICRS-F Support Center.

The Fogarty International Center, the international component of the NIH, addresses global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs, and supports and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships.