Facilitating clinical, research and professional development training is a core component of the CIDRZ model to improve health:
- Skills-building for physicians, nurses, radiology, pharmacy, and laboratory professionals improves local healthcare delivery, and enables perinatal health, HIV, tuberculosis and cervical cancer prevention and treatment programs to reach new communities.
- Training community members how to perform essential but non-clinical tasks in primary care settings relieves the burden on health clinic staff and improves patient satisfaction.
- Providing public health and research training develops necessary expertise to identify unique and innovative methods to improve healthcare practice and contribute to local policy development and global healthcare standards.
CIDRZ participates in numerous training opportunities for Zambian and expatriate public health and medical professionals, focused on clinical medicine, research and public health.
CIDRZ HIVCorps Provides Public Health Fellowships for Students and Early-Career Public Health Professionals:
The CIDRZ HIVCorps programme provides logistical support for our HIV-related research and healthcare projects and provides the next generation of Zambian and expatriate public health leaders the opportunity to gain field experience in a vibrant international organization. Fellowship attachments last for 10-12 months, and are nearly all based in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP) Public Health Training for Zambian Health Professionals and Policymakers:
CIDRZ collaborates with Vanderbilt University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in this Fogarty AITRP initiative. Zambians pursue Masters of Public Health degrees at Vanderbilt University (USA) or through distance-learning from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK). Graduates have gone on to apply their training within the Zambian Ministry of Health, University of Zambia, World Health Organization, UNICEF, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FHI360, CIDRZ, and other local partners.
Fogarty Global Health Fellowship for Zambian and Expatriate Medical Students and Fellows:
CIDRZ serves as a site for two of the five consortia recently funded under the Fogarty Global Health Fellowship mechanism: UNC–Johns Hopkins–Morehouse–Tulane and Vanderbilt–Duke–Emory–Cornell. Trainees receive vital field experience in clinical and implementation research during one-year long attachments. Mentored by senior investigators in-country, potential areas of research mirror CIDRZ focus areas of HIV, tuberculosis, maternal-child health, primary healthcare, childhood immunisation, and cervical cancer screening, among others.
Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellowship (DDICRF) for Expatriate Medical Students:
CIDRZ is one of three global training sites for the Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellowship offered through UNC. Medical students explore international clinical research careers through exposure to one-year long attachments. Under direction of a CIDRZ global health mentor, the fellow is responsible to formulate a research question, write a protocol, receive all relevant approvals, conduct the study to international ethical standards, and disseminate the results.
UNC Global Women’s Health Fellowship for Obstetrician-Gynecologists:
This comprehensive three-year long program provides didactic training, overseas field experience, and intensive academic mentorship. Upon completion, trainees have the necessary skills and expertise to become independent investigators and leaders in the field of global women’s health. CIDRZ is one of two UNC sites for the fellowship and has provided mentored field training since 1999.
Cervical Cancer Research Capacity Initiative (CCRCI) for Zambian Physicians and Laboratory Scientists:
CIDRZ collaborates with the UNC and UAB on a multidisciplinary, cancer research training program supported by the U.S. National Cancer Institute. With the aim of building strong research capacity within the Lusaka-based University Teaching Hospital, Cancer Diseases Hospital, and other Zambian public health-orientated institutions, training is focused on cervical cancer prevention, screening, and treatment research.