The Global Health Research Initiative Program for New Foreign Investigators (GRIP) is part of a broader effort by FIC to enhance scientific research capacity and research infrastructure in developing countries, while supporting research on critical global health issues, including AIDS, women's health, environmental pollution, cancer, and the growing burden of neurological and mental illness. The GRIP provides support on a competitive basis to assist well-trained young investigators from the developing world to contribute to health care advances of benefit to their home countries and the global community.
"Establishing equal partnerships between U.S. scientists and collaborators abroad is the foundation upon which global health advances are made," said FIC Director Gerald T. Keusch, M.D., on behalf of the NIH partners. "The GRIP is an important part of this process. It ensures that developing countries do not lose the benefits of talented scientists, while at the same time allows U.S. scientists to continue collaborating with well-trained young investigators abroad," he added.
The GRIP provides partial salaries to the junior researcher returning home, equivalent to similar professionals in the home country, and provides support for research projects. Developing country scientists supported by this grant are expected to continue to pursue independent and productive careers, including expert training, consultation and/or research on scientific issues, and teaching within their home institutions.
"This grant allows young investigators to have a level of control over their early careers in ways previously unavailable to them, said FIC Deputy Director Sharon Hrynkow, Ph.D. "With the new program, FIC expects to see increases in numbers of young scientists returning to their countries and, importantly, continuing of the international collaborations begun in the United States."
FIC's NIH partners are the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Eye Institute (NEI), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR), the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), and the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH).
The recipients of the first International Collaborative Genetics Research Training Program awards are:
FIC is the international component of the NIH. It promotes and supports scientific discovery internationally and mobilizes resources to reduce disparities in global health. NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Press releases, fact sheets, and other FIC-related materials are available at http://www.nih.gov/fic.