NIH, South African Medical Research Council award $8 million in HIV, TB grants
Two- and five-year awards are first issued under joint program
April 13, 2015 - The National Institutes of Health and the South African Medical
Research Council (SAMRC) are awarding 31 grants to U.S. and South African scientists to support
research targeting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and HIV-related co-morbidities and cancers. The
awards, which total $8 million in first-year funding, are the first to be issued
through the South Africa–U.S. Program for Collaborative Biomedical Research. The program, which was established in 2013 with funding from NIH and SAMRC, is designed to foster and/or expand basic, translational, behavioral and applied research to advance scientific discovery among U.S. and South African researchers working collaboratively in the areas of HIV/AIDS and TB. The new awards will support research conducted at eight South African institutions and link scientists at these institutions with U.S. researchers at more than 20 U.S.-based research organizations, including the NIH.
“South Africa is a major partner in the fight to end both HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.”
— Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
“South Africa is a major partner in the fight to end both HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis,” said
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH. “These new awards tap the scientific expertise
of both of our countries in an effort to further key research in these disease
areas. We are particularly gratified to work with the South African
Medical Research Council given its history of visionary leadership
and outstanding commitment to fostering biomedical research excellence and innovation.”
Among the newly funded research projects are those targeting HIV prevention, particularly among
high-risk young women; identifying HIV-infected individuals and determining how best to link them
to and retain them in medical care; developing strategies for optimizing the diagnosis,
treatment and prevention of HIV-associated cancers; and addressing scale-up of TB
prevention and treatment strategies, particularly among TB-infected mothers and
children. Twelve of the awards will support two years of research; 19 awards
will fund five-year collaborative
projects. The list of initial
24 awards will be updated to include the seven remaining projects once they are awarded.
In addition to NIAID, other NIH Institutes and Centers participating in the South Africa–U.S. Program for
Collaborative Biomedical Research include the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health, the
Fogarty International Center and the Office of AIDS Research. It is anticipated that NIH and
SAMRC will solicit additional applications for the program in two years.
NIAID conducts and supports research — at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide — to study
the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing,
diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related
materials are available at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and
supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes,
treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
Media Contact
Kathy Stover
301-402-1663
Source: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/apr2015/niaid-13.htm
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