Frequently Asked Questions FAQs for the Global Health Fellows and Scholars Support Centers

Program Objectives, Goals & Requirements

1. Do all the potential U.S. trainees have to be drawn only from the member institutions of the support center consortium?
   
   Not necessarily as long as all the requirements of the RFA are met. For example, support center applicants are encouraged to recruit graduates from NIH-funded T32 post-doctoral research training grants awarded to applicant institutions as the primary but not the exclusive pipeline from which U.S post-doctorates will be selected for the Global Health Fellows program.

2. Can a support center consortium include more than four U.S. institutions as members of the consortium?
   
   No. Although not required, applicants are encouraged to form a consortium that may include up to four complementary US academic/training institutions.

3. Can a U.S. university participate in more than one support center consortium application?
   
   No. Only one application per institution is allowed. An institution may submit an application as the applicant institution of the consortium or as a collaborating member of the consortium.

4. Can current T32 trainees be selected under this grant as fellows or scholars?
   
   Yes. However, applicants are encouraged to recruit graduates of T32 post-doctoral training programs. If a current T32 trainee is selected, all necessary approvals must be received from the PI and the NIH Program Official of the T32 program from which the trainee is selected. For more information, please read the information for Applicants to the 2012-2013 Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars (Postdoctoral and Doctoral Students) .

1. Can support center awardees conduct a joint orientation session for new trainees at NIH every year?
   
   Yes. Support Center awardees will be required to collaborate with each other in the conduct of a joint orientation session for trainees for up to 5 days at NIH every year in consultation with the Fogarty International Center (FIC). FIC will provide meeting room(s) at NIH at no cost to the grantees for the orientation sessions.

2. The Announcement is labeled as "limited competition." Does that mean that only current Fogarty grantees are eligible to apply?

   No. Applicants do not have to be current Fogarty grantees. All applicants who meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the announcement can apply.

3. The objectives specify providing "focused mentoring." What is focused mentoring?
   
   It means each trainee should be under an outcome-oriented and trainee-focused mentoring plan with regular discussion with mentors.

4. What is the definition of global health research?
   
   The following working definition is used for "global health" for the operational purposes of this Request for Applications (RFA). Any type of research related to global health is global health research. "Global health is an area for study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide. Global health emphasizes transnational health issues, determinants, and solutions; involves many disciplines within and beyond the health sciences and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration; and is a synthesis of population-based prevention with individual-level clinical care.” [Ref: Koplan JP, Bond TC, Merson MH, Reddy KS, Rodriguez MH, Sewankambo NK, Wasserheit JN; Consortium of Universities for Global Health Executive Board. Towards a common definition of global health. Lancet. 2009 Jun 6; 373(9679):1993-5.]

5. The announcement specifies providing "training opportunities in diverse areas of research for trainees at those research sites." What does “diverse” mean?
   
   Diverse areas of research means different research areas such as communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and vaccine-preventable diseases; chronic non-communicable diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, lung diseases, blood diseases, metabolic diseases and mental health; maternal and child health; women’s health; arthritis, musculoskeletal and skin diseases; injury; environmental and occupational health; genetics and other diseases.

6. Does a consortium have to cover every single area mentioned above?
   
   No. However, it is desirable to cover about four of the above mentioned areas.

7. What are the research training sites?
   
   Proposed research training sites in LMICs must have the following attributes:

   • existing capacity to provide an outstanding mentored global health research training experience to trainees in the program
   • involvement in at least one active multi-year research training grant, on-going NIH-funded and/or other U.S. government-funded clinical research projects, strong ethical review and oversight of clinical research, committed interest and expertise in mentoring students, appropriate research facilities, and suitable infrastructure arrangements for housing, food, and transportation
   • established partnership with the applicant or at least one member of the U.S. consortium for at least three years in research or research training

8. The announcement specifies enhancing "the global health research career trajectory potential of the trainees." What are the examples of the global health research career trajectory?
   
   Alumni of the training programs in positions such as:

   • Director of Clinical Research at an internationally well-known and respected research institution in the home country
   • Recipient of global health post-doctoral fellowships
   • NIH career development award recipient related to global health research
   • NIH R01 award recipient related to global health research
   • Key collaborator in NIH and other U.S. government funded research projects
   • Faculty positions at academic institutions with focus on global health research
   • Author and/or co-author of scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals

9. Who is eligible to apply to become a support center?
   
   U.S. higher education institutions are eligible. Non-U.S. higher education institutions are not eligible. Only U.S. academicians can apply as a support center Principal Investigators (PIs).

10. Applicants are encouragedto form consortiums. Can you provide more information about the consortiums?

    Applicants are encouraged to form a consortium, or a collection of U.S. universities that will collaborate with and complement each other in this training program. The number of U.S. universities in the consortium will vary, depending on the consortium needed to meet the objectives. It may have about four universities in general. While you can submit an application without forming a consortium, the review criteria and objectives need to be fulfilled. Applicants are encouraged to form a consortium to broaden the number of research sites and areas of research available to prospective fellows and scholars.

LMIC Research Sites

1. Will the current FICRS-F research training sites be included as LMIC research training sites?

   It depends on these sites. The sites may or may not decide to partner with Support Center applicants.

2. Can a research training site in a LMIC partner with more than one Support Center applicant?

   Yes, as long as the site has sufficient mentoring and research support at the research training site to partner with more than one Support Center.

3. Can more research training sites in LMICs be added later by the Support Centers?

   Yes. If it is going to strengthen the program, additional eligible research training sites in LMICs can be included in the consortia even after the awards with prior approval from Fogarty.

Trainee Applicants

1. How will the U.S. trainee applicants apply to become Fellows or Scholars?
   
   To the Support Centers will announce the applicant process after they are awarded the grants. Support Center awards will be announced on the Fogarty website between March and June or 2012.
   

2. How will the LMIC research sites select trainee applicants?
   
   The Support Centers will announce the applicant process after they are awarded the grants. They will have the list of collaborating research training sites in LMICs and the eligibility criteria for application.

3. Who will be eligible to apply to become a U.S. trainee?
   
   Any U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents (green card holders) who meet the professional eligibility criteria, which includes Ph.D. students in the health sciences, fourth year medical students and post-doctorates.
   

4. Who will be eligible to become a LMIC trainee?
   
   Citizens of the LMICs from the country where the research training site is located. For example, Kenyan citizens who meet the professional eligibility criteria are eligible to apply for research training sites in Kenya.

5. Where can Support Center applicants direct potential Fellow and Scholar applicants for more information?
   
   Please direct them to the information for Postdoctoral and Doctoral Applicants to the 2012-2013 Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars .

Updated September 26, 2011