Pediatric Global Health Subspecialty Fellowship

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT To optimally support global child health and development, research needs to be designed to account for the scale of disease burden and child mortality that occurs worldwide. A robust global pediatric health research strategy depends upon new investigators with the technical expertise required to translate basic science to population health and wellness. Although the US leads the world in biomedical research, none of the 39 NIH funded global health institutional training grants are focused solely on improving health for children in low- and middle-income countries, and none are from NICHD. General pediatric global health fellowships limit career opportunities for clinician scientists, further restricting researchers to high income health systems. We will capitalize on the significant teaching and research resources that exist across Stanford University to develop the next generation of pediatric subspecialty global health researchers. We propose a dual fellowship training approach which will encompass both the trainee’s pediatric subspecialty as well as a focus on global health approaches to subspecialty research. Resources such as the co-located seven schools which make up teaching and research at Stanford University, as well as the surrounding Silicon Valley, offers a unique entrepreneurial and technologically innovative environment, will serve as the hub of an interdisciplinary environment to build a cross-cutting research program addressing the needs of children in low- and middle-income countries. The program PI has directed T32 programs for over a decade and is the School of Medicine Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Diversity, so is well-positioned to provide substantial mentorship and leadership resources for the trainees. Stanford has a group of highly experienced and well-funded global child health researchers with substantial mentorship and clinical experience who work across the spectrum of low- and middle-income countries. Finally, the proposal includes a unique pediatric subspecialty global health curriculum that integrates with existing rigorous coursework and a Master’s in Epidemiology program to provide the foundation for the proposed training program. Two Stanford pediatric subspecialty fellows will be selected per year, beginning in their second year of training. Trainees will: (1) complete a Master of Science in Epidemiology and Clinical Research; (2) receive structured dual-mentorship by both subspecialty and global child health researchers; (3) design and complete a hypothesis-driven research project; (4) attend interactive research working groups; and (5) participate in the Department of Pediatrics highly successful grant writing programs. This comprehensive program will train a new generation of pediatric subspecialty global health scientists equipped to advance the research agenda outlined in the NICHD Scientific Vision.