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International Training in Medical Informatics (ITMI)

Table of Contents

1. Summary
2. Specifically, the Program is Designed to
3. Types of Training
4. Trainees
5. Program Directors/U.S. Institutions/Collaborating Countries
6. Links to ITMI-related sites
7. Contact
8. Archives

I. Summary

The Fogarty International Center, in collaboration with the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and with additional funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has developed this program to address the gap between developed and developing countries in the area of modern information technologies. These efforts will assist developing country scientists and their U.S. collaborators to address local and global health needs through improved access to scientific and clinical information on health threats and improved research and surveillance capabilities. The first competition of this program focused on training of scientists from sub-Saharan Africa. The second competition in 1999 added projects in both Africa and Latin America. It is not known at the present time when the program will be competed for a third time.

II. Specifically, the Program is Designed to:

• Improve the informatics capacity of developing country institutions in order to advance research and health surveillance activities by training key researchers and institutional support staff in those institutions in the use and development of modern informatics technologies in the health sciences;

• Provide targeted short-term training in informatics and related disciplines at U.S. institutions and in the home country to develop and disseminate locally adapted knowledge of the informatics technologies in collaborating countries;

• Expand and improve ongoing collaborative research between U.S. and developing country scientists in the prevention, control and treatment of diseases of public health relevance in the home country.

III. Types of Training:

1. Formal U.S.- based training for developing country scientists in computer assisted data analysis and management for biomedical research applications (e.g. biostatistics, Geographic Information Systems [GIS], epidemiological modeling, database construction, and access and use of public biomedical databases such as GenBank or PubMed) which may lead to an M.S. or the equivalent degree for individuals with degrees in biomedical or other health related science. Such training would normally require that trainees already had basic computer skills and a demonstrated aptitude for computer use. The duration of training is expected to range from one to four academic semesters. Academic courses will normally be taken in the U.S. Associated field studies and research projects could be conducted in the United States, but to the extent possible, should take place in the trainee's home country.

2. Postdoctoral training and research experiences (generally of one to two years duration) for developing country health scientists (in the United States).

3. Practical and applied short-term training (up to three weeks) targeted to specific needs in support of disease control and prevention research for scientists, technicians, librarians and allied health professionals, including training necessary to support development or use of existing local, national or international medical databases. An excellent example of such a short course in the U.S. is the NLM funded Medical Informatics Course at Woods Hole. This training could also take place at the home institution or at regionally important centers in the developing country.

4. Advanced informatics training (generally of one to two years' duration) for current and/or former trainees, including re-entry grants to enable them to develop projects that apply newly acquired skills in association with ongoing research or public health efforts.

5. Follow-up training in the home country using distance learning techniques where useful and appropriate.

IV. Trainees

Trainees shall be individuals who are currently involved or will be involved in biomedical research or health surveillance activities in their home country. A research institutional base for trainees to return to is an integral part of the eligibility of the trainees. The U.S. applicants are especially encouraged to recruit junior faculty at participating developing country universities or research institutes. The following categories of individuals are eligible for training:

1. Foreign researchers and other health professionals (M.D., D.D.S./D.M.D., Ph.D., or equivalent);
2. Foreign professionals with a bachelors or masters degree in a basic or health science;
3. Medical technicians, computer technicians and health care workers;
4. Allied health professionals such as behavioral scientists, medical librarians, and nurses;
5. Highly qualified current or former trainees from other FIC or NIH programs involved in advanced research training in their home countries.

V. Program Directors/U.S. Institutions/Collaborating Countries

Dr. Taha El Tahir Taha Johns Hopkins University Department of Epidemiology 615 North Wolfe Street Rm. E6011 Baltimore, Maryland 21205 Telephone: (410) 614-5255 Fax: (410) 955-1836 Malawi	Dr. William Tierney Regenstrief Institute Department of Medicine 1001 West Tenth Street, RG6 Indianapolis, Indiana 46202 Telephone: (317) 630-7660 Fax: (317) 630-6611 Kenya
Dr. Michael Bennish New England Medical Center Hospitals Department of Medicine 750 Washington Street, Box 041 Boston, Massachusetts 02111 Telephone: (617) 636-0336 Fax: (617) 636-3216 South Africa, Zambia	Dr. Frances Mather Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine Department of Biostatistics 1430 Tulane Avenue SL 18 New Orleans, Louisiana 70112 Telephone: (504) 587-7329 Fax: (504) 584-1706 Mali
Dr. Charles Mitchell University of Miami School of Medicine Division of Immunology and Infectious Diseases 1500 NW 10th Avenue # 203 P.O. Box 016960 (D4-4) Miami, Florida 33101 Telephone: (305) 243-2700 Zambia	Dr. Daniel McGee Medical University of South Carolina Department of Biometry and Epidemiology P.O. Box 250551 135 Rutledge Avenue, Suite 1148 Charleston, South Carolina 29425 Telephone: (843) 876-1135 Fax: (843) 876-1126 Nigeria, Jamaica
Dr. Lucila Ohno-Machado Brigham And Women's Hospital Decision Systems Group 75 Francis Street Boston, Massachusetts 02115 Telephone: (617) 732-8543 Fax: (617) 739-3672 Brazil	Dr. Timothy De Ver Dye University of Rochester Department of Community and Preventive Medicine 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 324 Rochester, New York 14642 Telephone: (716) 273-2586 Fax: (716) 756-7656 Costa Rica
Dr. Ann Kimball University of Washington Department of Health Services Box 357660 Seattle, Washington 98195-7660 Telephone: (206) 616-2977 Fax: (206) 543-3964 Peru	Dr. Cynthia Gadd University of Pittsburgh Center for Biomedical Informatics 200 Lothrop Street 8084 Forbes Tower Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 Telephone: (412) 647-7113 Fax: (412) 647-7120 Nigeria

Decisions about whom to accept for training are made by the program directors. All current program directors have developed collaborative activities with specific countries, with major collaborations indicated above. The relevant U.S. program director should be contacted for country-specific information, necessary qualifications, eligibility, and application procedures. Scientists from the participating countries are eligible to apply for these training programs.

VI. Links to ITMI-related Sites

VII. Contact

For additional information on the International Training In Medical Informatics program (ITMI), please contact the Program Director:

Dr. Flora N. Katz

Fogarty International Center
National Institutes of Health
Building 31, B2C39
31 Center Drive MSC 2220
Bethesda, MD 20892-2220
Phone: (301) 402-9591
Fax: (301) 402-2056

VIII. Archives

• The most recent announcement for this program appeared in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts March 4, 1999, TW-99-003.

• ITMI In the News: August 19, 2000, British Medical Journal
  Information Technology and Telemedicine in Sub-Saharan Africa

Updated January 2002