SUNY UWI Center receives US$1.1 million NIH grant

The SUNY UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development was awarded a US $1.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center. This is quite a coup for the Center, as only 10 to 15 percent of applicants successfully get funding from the NIH.

The grant will be applied to a five-year Global Infectious Diseases Research Training programme which will focus on virology research and train 15 scientists, including graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. The first four are based at The UWI.

(L-R) Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Professor of Parasite Epidemiology at The UWI, John Lindo, Pro-Vice-Chan- cellor and Principal of The UWI Open Campus and PVC in charge of the SUNY-UWI, Dr. Luz Longsworth, SUNY's Distinguished Professor Gene Morse, SUNY Chairman, Mr. Carl McCall and Sally Crimmins Villela, Associate Vice-Chancellor for SUNY Global Affairs.

The notable award reflects the high priority of emerging and chronic viral infections in the Caribbean. The programme will focus on tracing infectious diseases, their origins and methods of transmission, and help seek a cure. It will enable medical researchers to discover new ways to trace and ameliorate the health outcomes of Caribbean populations.

Apart from the objective of training high-quality personnel to find and deliver solutions to regional issues, this achievement also represents the successful quest for alternative funding for university programmes.

he four young scientists in the infectious diseases research programme (from second left) Dr Inshan Ali, clinical microbiology resident; Chadwick Mears, master's student in medical biology; Tiffany Butterfield, PhD student in co-morbidities in HIV infection; and Dr Mi- chelle Brown, who specialises in epidemiology of viral hepatitis and treatment in Jamaica, share a moment with SUNY's Distinguished Professor Gene Morse (left), and The UWI's Professor John Lindo (right).