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Dartmouth Receives Renewal Grant for International Research Ethics Training

By Tim Dean

Geisel is one of four institutions to receive new or ongoing support from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health—which is awarding a total of $5.3 million over the next five years in training grants to develop research bioethics expertise in low-and-middle-income countries in the Americas, the Middle East, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Geisel's renewed grant will allow it to continue working with Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to strengthen existing expertise in research bioethics among scientists, faculty, health care providers, and other professionals throughout Tanzania and the entire east sub-Saharan Africa region. Building local capacity to address ethical issues that arise with studies involving human subjects will be vital, as clinical research is growing at a rapid pace in the region.

During the initial five-year phase, Richard Waddell, DSc, MSc, principle investigator (PI) on the project and an associate professor of medicine, and his colleagues at Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania established in-country training and certificate programs in bioethics and worked with colleagues at MUHAS to develop a curriculum for a new master's degree program.

Specific aims for the project over the next five years are: to solidify and expand the Tanzania training infrastructure for the MBE degree program; enhance faculty excellence and development and build bioethics capacity; and develop an Institute of Bioethics at MUHAS as a Center of Excellence.