Pitt Receives Grant to Train Foreign Scientists in Combating HIV

Researchers at Pitt have received a 5-year, $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center to train researchers and scientists in countries hit hard by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. A new center will open in Mozambique, while existing centers in Brazil and India will be updated.

Principal Investigator Lee Harrison says on reason they chose Mozambique is because one in every three pregnant women has HIV there. "And there are very few trained scientists to help study and control the epidemic there," says Harrison. He says students from both of the country's medical schools appear to be promising candidates for HIV education. However, for the time being, pupils will be trained only in the basics of AIDS research. Many scientists that Pitt trained in Brazil in the past 10 years will also help to train new researchers in Mozambique; both countries share the same language, Portugese.

In India, says Harrison, the grant funds will be used to bolster the research on new laboratory equipment that could help in the fight against AIDS and HIV.