NIH global health research newsletter: Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa) Virtual Symposium, NIH support for early-career scientists, COVID-19 research in Africa, chronic diseases, stigma and HIV/AIDS.

Global Health Matters e-newsletter from Fogarty International Center at NIH

September / October 2020

Fogarty allocates $4M to support early-career scientists

Fogarty is supporting seven additional promising early-career scientists in low- and middle-income countries through the Emerging Global Leader Award program.

 Photo courtesy of University of the West Indies. Female researchers works in a lab with a microscope.

African experts share COVID-19 contact tracing tips

Several leaders of coronavirus response teams in Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda presented best practices of COVID-19 contact tracing in a recent webinar co-moderated by the African Forum for Research and Education for Health (AFREhealth) and Fogarty.

 Image courtesy of Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana. Screen capture of a GPS app used that shows connecting points on a map across Rwanda.

NIBIB's Dr Bruce Tromberg: Developing biomedical technology to support global health

Dr. Bruce Tromberg, director of NIH's National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, discusses biomedical technology and global health research, potential for the new Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa) program, and NIBIB contributions to the COVID-19 effort.

 Photo courtesy of NIBIB/NIH. Headshot of NIBIB Director Dr. Bruce Tromberg.

Opinion: Now is the time to catalyze data science and health innovation in Africa

Fogarty Director Dr. Roger I. Glass shares his thoughts on how the NIH Common Fund's new Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa) program will help ensure African scientists are prepared to lead the coming surge of big data research.

 Image by iStock. Digital map of Africa.

Focus: NIH hosts virtual conference on data science in Africa

The NIH Common Fund launched a virtual symposium and networking platform to foster collaborations across disciplines, sectors and geographies in the hopes of cultivating quality applications for the new Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa) program.

 Photo courtesy of Mama-Ope. Medical worker examines young child who is sitting on an examining table in an indoor clinic setting, computer in foreground.

Photo courtesy of Royal Academy of Engineering. Brian Gitta observes a malaria detection prototype.

Also in this issue

  • NIH Common Fund issues two awards for COVID-19 research in Africa
    With emergency support through revisions to existing NIH Common Fund grants, a robotic lung ultrasound machine will be tested for COVID-19 triage in Nigeria, and a cohort of South African children will be studied for serological response to coronavirus.

  • Chronic disease research and training projects receive $14M investment from NIH
    Fogarty and its NIH funding partners have awarded 17 new grants to support research and training on cancer, diabetes, mental illness and other noncommunicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries.

  • $3M awarded to study HIV/AIDS stigma
    Eight new awards were funded through Fogarty’s Reducing Stigma to Improve HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment and Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries program.

  • Profile: Type 2 diabetes syndemic in India characterized by Fogarty Scholar
    As a Fogarty fellow in India, Dr. Emily Mendenhall researched co-occurring epidemics of type 2 diabetes, depression and social inequality among urban patients, which led to her later studies of syndemics in South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia.

  • US leadership in research and development is slipping, a new report warns
    U.S. leadership in research and development is waning while China's is on the rise, according to a new study from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Rice University.

  • People in the news:

    • New NIH eye institute director Dr. Michael F. Chiang has global ties
    • NIH taps Dr. Lindsey A. Criswell to lead arthritis, skin disease research
    • Dr. Rena D’Souza is named director of NIH dental research
    • Dr. Anthony Fauci to receive R.F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award
    • Fogarty mHealth grantee Dr. Young Kim wins NIH tech competition
    • Dr. Steven Meshnick remembered for dedication to global health
    • Former Fogarty bioethics trainee Dr. Paulina Tindana is honored
    • Details: People in the news

  • Global health briefs:

    • G-FINDER urges increased R&D investment
    • WHO: sepsis causes 20% of global deaths
    • NCD agenda should be reframed
    • Report examines AI’s role in global health
    • Child lead poisoning is global problem
    • Details: Global health briefs

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Global Health Matters is produced by the Office of Communications at the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center. For more information, please contact managing editor Ann Puderbaugh at ann.puderbaugh@nih.gov or 301-496-2075.

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

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