Last summer, while conducting research ,among a Zulu population in a rural community in South Africa called Ndwedwe Magisterial District, Christopher Moore was able to put to the test some of the theories he learned as a first-year student in the School of Medicine's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (EPH).

In South Africa, Moore interviewed the caregivers of children with symptoms of pediatric pneumonia, an illness often associated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). His research there, part of the Ndwedwe District Child Survival Project, was designed to increase an understanding of how the changing environment in the nation may impact caregivers' choices of treatment for the illness, which ranged from herbal remedies and traditional healers to the use of modern medical facilities.

The Yale student's 11-week stay in South Africa was made possible by a Minority International Research Training (MIRT) Fellowship from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which supports foreign travel and research expenses for minority undergraduate and graduate students interested in careers in international health.

Moore was one of five Yale students selected for the 2001 fellowship, which was offered at the University for the first time last year.

Next summer, another five minority students at Yale will have the opportunity to pursue health research abroad, thanks to renewed funding to EPH from the NIH's Fogarty International Center. (See the box below.)

The Fogarty International Center and the Office of Research on Minority Health at the NIH jointly support scientific programs that offer international research training to qualified undergraduate and graduate minority students, who are currently underrepresented in the fields of biomedical and behavioral sciences research.

The MIRT Fellowship is intended specifically to assist minority students to undertake a 10- to 12-week summer project in international health in a foreign -- preferably developing -- country. The grant pays for all travel and research expenses as well as a living stipend while in the field.

MIRT Fellows work in conjunction with a Yale faculty member and receive assistance in locating a research project focused on an international health challenge, according to Nora Groce, associate professor in the Global Health Division of EPH. Groce, who oversees the MIRT Fellowship program at Yale, says some 20 other universities around the country also have had ongoing MIRT programs.

"Often, it is assumed that talented minority students interested in health research are only concerned with health problems affecting minority populations in the United States," says Groce. "But there are many students who are also interested in the challenging health issues of international populations. The MIRT Fellowship program recognizes that desire among students and gives them the opportunity they might not otherwise have had to fully explore research abroad that interests them, thereby enhancing minority representation in the field of international health."

Moore, now a second-year student in EPH, says his experience in South Africa as a MIRT Fellow has further encouraged him to pursue a career in international health research and health promotion in the near future.

"I had always wanted to pursue some type of health research in a global setting, specifically in southern Africa," says Moore. "This practical exposure to global health research helped to solidify the theoretical education provided in my first year of public health school while increasing my awareness of the complex cultural issues of foreign work not covered in the classroom." The fellowship also allowed him to gain "invaluable experience and knowledge" about building a research protocol, says Moore.

"The MIRT Fellowship also highlighted for me, a minority student, the extreme need for underrepresented minorities in health research," adds Moore. "Minorities are so often the targets of global health interventions that seek to diminish health disparities, yet people of color are too often not represented among research investigators and health program coordinators."

The other students who received 2001 MIRT Fellowships are:

* Yetsa Tuakli-Wosornu '01, who worked on a midwifery, child birth and child mortality project in rural Ghana. Tuakli-Wosurnu currently is following up this research with further work in Africa on
a Fulbright scholarship and will attend Harvard Medical School next year.

* Daniel Meza '02, who helped launch a survey of elementary schoolchildren in Beijing, China, to assess their health and physical activity. Meza, who is majoring in history and biology, said his experience in China changed his perception of the world and reinforced his interest in public health and medicine, particularly in developing countries. He worked with a Chinese doctor who heads the School of Nutrition at the Union School of Public Health in Beijing.

* Julia Mitchell, now a second-year EPH student. Mitchell spent the summer in South Africa interviewing women about their knowledge of HIV/AIDS, their HIV risk and experiences of sexual abuse. She was based at the Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria, and did her field work with a non-governmental organization called People Opposing Woman Abuse (POWA).

"While many of the women I interviewed had knowledge about HIV/AIDS, many had no control over their 'risk' because their encounters were often violent, such as rape," says Mitchell, who also interviewed psychologists and lawyers on the subject of violence against women. Her interviews will be used as part of an upcoming large-scale intervention project between POWA and Yale's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS funded through the World AIDS Foundation.

* Temitayo Ifafore '03, who traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to study a strain of cholera native to Brazil that is found in aquatic animals and can infect humans. An anthropology major, Ifafore says that she appreciated the chance to use research techniques she had previously only read or heard about, and to have hands-on experience in applying them. The MIRT Fellowship afforded Ifafore her first experience actually working in a laboratory setting. She conducted her research at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro.

"I loved working with people who are really motivated and driven by their work, people who are working on important health issues not because of money but because of their interest and their desire to make information available about diseases," she says.

-- By Susan González

Fellowship funds research abroad

This coming summer, the Minority International Research Training Fellowship (MIRT) program will support the foreign travel and research expenses for two graduate and three undergraduate minority students interested in international health.

Students contemplating careers in the biomedical sciences, behavioral and social sciences, or interdisciplinary studies (i.e. environmental studies, women's studies) are encouraged to apply.

In addition to travel and research expenses and a living stipend, the MIRT Fellowship assists with language training and other relevant skills-building expenses, says Nora Groce, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health's Global Health Division, who oversees the program at Yale. The fellowship also pays for MIRT Fellows to attend one academic conference related to their research upon their return from abroad.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Applications are due by Jan. 18, 2002. Finalists will be interviewed by the MIRT Committee.

The MIRT Fellowship program is sponsored by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health's Dean's Office and its Global Health Division. For further information and applications, contact Annette Ackerman at annette.ackerman@yale.edu.

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