The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) propose to increase research capacity, in the area of HIV-associated malignancies, within the Zambian Ministry of Health's only tertiary and cancer specialty hospitals - the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) and Cancer Diseases Hospital (CDH), both located in Lusaka. Our proposal specifically focuses on building research capacity around cervical cancer because it is an AIDS-defining disease, the cancer most commonly diagnosed in Zambia, and the leading cause of cancer-related death among Zambian women. The research training that will be provided by the proposed program is strategically designed to provide a significant opportunity to develop and retain investigators within Zambian public health institutions. Our vision is to ultimately facilitate the creation of a Zambian HIV-Associated Malignancies Clinical Trials Unit, based at the Cancer Diseases Hospital that will be able to attract research support. We will offer training to a number of Zambian clinical and technical staff, Including six senior investigators, six junior investigations, four laboratory technicians, and ten study coordinators/research associates, through a variety of means. We will foster a multidisciplinary approach to cervical cancer research by focusing our training in the following six medical disciplines, each with a dedicated UAB mentor and a senior and junior Zambian investigator: radiation oncology, gynecologic oncology, pathology, virology, nutrition, epidemiology and biostatistics. Our approach to building research capacity includes: (1) professional mentoring and exchange visit opportunities to UAB for six senior Zambian investigators, all in positions to influence and direct future research within the country; (2) year-long fellowships at UAB for six junior Zambian investigators, including a six-month course in clinical and translational science research methodology for all trainees; (3) an eighteen-month in-country research practicum for junior investigators, during which time they will complete an independent research study project and develop a manuscript, under the guidance of their UAB mentors and senior Zambian investigators and (4) an intensive three-month training for two cyto-histologic and two radiation therapy technicians at UAB. Additionally, we will offer a 36 week distance-based education course to train Zambian research associates/study coordinators and a 2 week web-based course in translational science for UTH and CDH staff interested in conducting research

D43CA153784

2010-08-01

2015-07-31