Training

San Francisco-based training

• CAPS/Fogarty International Visiting Scientists Program (ITAPS)
• AITRP/Fogarty Advanced graduate training at UCB
• Japanese Nurse Training Program

In-country training

• CEARGS Brazil
• Training in HIV/AIDS Surveillance for Selected Countries of the CDC Global AIDS Program

CAPS/Fogarty Visiting Scientists Program

The Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) of the University of California at San Francisco, in cooperation with the Fogarty International AIDS Training Program of the University of California at Berkeley, has sponsored a International Traineeship in AIDS Prevention Studies (I-TAPS) Program since 1988. Up to ten applicants are selected each year to work with CAPS scientists in San Francisco. During the 10-week program, each Visiting Scientist develops a protocol for a specific research project with relevance to AIDS prevention to be carried out in his or her own country. The program has trained 118 scientists from 38 countries over the past 15 years.

I-TAPS Fellows: Conference presentations

I-TAPS Fellows: Bibliography


Advanced graduate training at UCB (AITRP/Fogarty)

This training program, one of eight NIH-funded international AIDS training programs in the country, is a joint effort of UCSF and the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. The collaborating institutions collectively have the expertise and resources to provide training and technical assistance across a broad spectrum of AIDS-related activities. Programs for international students include masters degrees in public health (MPH), doctoral degrees in public health (Dr.P.H.) and doctoral degrees in epidemiology (Ph.D.), ranging from one to four years. The program is directed by Arthur L. Reingold, MD, Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health and Head of the Division of Public Health Biology and Epidemiology. Dr. Reingold is a CAPS co-investigator and an adjunct professor in the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The program provides training in AIDS research to health professionals from several developing countries.

Japanese nurse training (ACTION)

The Japanese HIV Nurse Training Program (or ACTION Program) is a collaborative program of the CAPS International Program and the Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention. UCSF co-directors are Dr. Jeffrey S. Mandel, Naoki Onizuka and Dr. Reiko True. Three to four times yearly, we offer a two-week comprehensive training program to visiting Japanese nurses on current issues in HIV/AIDS care, e.g., recent treatment advances, drug management and adherence, multi-disciplinary case management, peer counselling and psycho-social issues of both patients and health care providers. The program began in 1997; as of the end of this program year (2003-04), 119 nurses will have completed this training program.

CEARGS Brazil

With funding from the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center, CAPS has opened the Centro de Estudos de Aids de Rio Grande do Sul (CEARGS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Under the leadership of Mauro Ramos, M.D., M.P.H., CEARGS has grown into an important center for AIDS research training in Brazil. CEARGS offers a 2-week intensive research methods course every year for Portuguese-speaking scientists; and each year two Brazilian scientists come to CAPS to attend the ITAPS summer training program.

Surveillance Training

UCSF participates in several activities surrounding HIV surveillance on a global level.  UCSF (in partnership with several major universities and institutions across the United States, including Tulane University, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health), received a 5-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global AIDS Program.  This grant funding will help provide technical assistance for the continuation and expansion of surveillance training in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia.

The CDC-GAP Surveillance Program has provided assistance in establishing or enhancing HIV surveillance activities and training in many countries throughout the world. The overall goal of this program is to strengthen the capacity of CDC-GAP countries to utilize new methods to conduct surveillance activities.

The primary role of UCSF in this project is to support GAP in achieving the international goals contained within the CDC’s Five-Year HIV Prevention Strategic Plan, such as reducing HIV transmission (for example, through evidence-based strategies, such as VCT and MTCT); improving access to care and treatment; building the programmatic capacity of developing countries around prevention and treatment; and expanding and strengthening HIV/STD/TB surveillance. 

Over the past few years, effective new surveillance methods targeted for use in less developed countries have been developed and tested.  Examples of such methods include HIV seroprevalence monitoring, behavioral surveillance and incidence studies.  With the assistance of the African Regional Office (WHO-AFRO) of the World Health Organization, UCSF developed four surveillance training modules and a Facilitator’s guide to implement in CDC-GAP countries.  The topics of these modules are as follows:

• Module 1:      Overview of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic and Introduction to Public Health Surveillance
• Module 2:      AIDS Surveillance
• Module 3:      HIV Surveillance
• Module 4:      STI Surveillance

In our first year of the project, we focused our activities around providing technical support in the areas of surveillance in the African region.  Surveillance activities included the continuation of training in Kenya and South Africa using the four modules.  We have also forged a working relationship with the CDC-GAP office in Guatemala in order to develop a training program for surveillance in behavioral surveillance and high-risk populations that will be appropriate for use in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Development of a fifth and sixth module addressing these topics is also in progress at the present time.