The NIH Almanac

Mission

The John E. Fogarty International Center (FIC), the international component of the NIH, addresses global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs and supports and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships. In the nearly 40 years since its establishment, the Fogarty International Center has grown from modest roots—Fogarty's first-year budget totaled $500,000—to a globe-encircling enterprise that provides $64 million to fund research, training, and capacity-building that extends to over 100 countries and involves some 5,000 scientists in the U.S. and abroad.

Important Events in FIC History

October 22, 2007—In an effort to focus attention on global health, Fogarty joined with the Council of Science Editors (CSE) to promote its 2007 international theme issue on poverty and human development. Fogarty, in conjunction with the National Library of Medicine, hosted the event at NIH to coincide with the simultaneous publication of related research by more than 235 scientific journals in 37 countries. At least 1,000 articles were disseminated, representing research projects taking place in 85 nations. View Image.

Legislative Chronology

January 18, 1967—Rep. Melvin Laird (Wisc.) proposed that Congress establish an international research and study center at NIH as a memorial to the late Rep. John E. Fogarty (R.I.). President Lyndon B. Johnson subsequently announced that he was seeking funds to establish the John E. Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences.

February 26, 1968—Departmental approval was given to establish the Fogarty International Center.

March 16, 1968—Official notice was published in the Federal Register.

July 1, 1968—President Lyndon Johnson issued an Executive Order establishing the John E. Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. The NIH Office of International Research was abolished and several of its functions were transferred to FIC.

June 1979—The Task Force to Assess the Missions and Functions of the Fogarty International Center reported to the director, NIH, on its year-long study of the center, reaffirming FIC’s importance as the focus for international aspects of biomedical and behavioral research at NIH, and recommending specific measures for strengthening and broadening its programs.

June 1982—FIC was designated a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Biomedicine.

September 1985—The first meeting of the FIC Advisory Board was held.

November 1985—FIC was established in law (Public Law 99-158, sec. 482).

Biographical Sketch of Fogarty Director Roger I. Glass, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Glass was named Director of the Fogarty International Center and Associate Director for International Research by NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni on March 31, 2006. Dr. Glass formally took office on June 11, 2006.

Dr. Glass graduated from Harvard College in 1967, received a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the University of Buenos Aires in 1967, and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1972. He joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1977 as a medical officer assigned to the Environmental Hazards Branch. He received his doctorate from the University of Goteborg, Sweden, in 1984, and joined the National Institutes of Health Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, where he worked on the molecular biology of rotavirus. In 1986, Dr. Glass returned to the CDC to become Chief of the Viral Gastroenteritis Unit at the National Center for Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Glass's research interests are in the prevention of gastroenteritis from rotaviruses and noroviruses through the application of novel scientific research. He has maintained field studies in India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Mexico, Israel, Russia, Vietnam, China, and elsewhere. His research has been targeted toward epidemiologic studies to anticipate the introduction of rotavirus vaccines. He is fluent and often lectures in 5 languages.

Dr. Glass has received numerous awards including the prestigious Charles C. Shepard Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award, presented by the CDC in recognition of his 30-year career of scientific research application and leadership. Other honors include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Outstanding Unit Citation from the National Center for Infectious Diseases, the Outstanding Service Medal from the U.S. Public Health Service, and a Commendation Medal from the U.S. Public Health Service. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine (an arm of the National Academy of Sciences), the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Society of Microbiology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Virology, and the American Epidemiological Society. Dr. Glass is also a fellow in the Infectious Disease Society and the American College of Epidemiology.

Dr. Glass has co-authored more than 400 research papers and chapters. He is married to Barbara Stoll, M.D., the George W. Brumley, Jr. Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and the Medical Director of the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. He and his wife have 3 children.

FIC Directors

Name	In Office from	To
Milo D. Leavitt, Jr.	June 16, 1968	July 1978
Leon Jacobs	July 1, 1978	June 29, 1979
Edwin D. Becker (Acting)	July 1979	April 1980
Vida H. Beaven (Acting)	April 1980	January 1981
Claude Lenfant	February 1981	July 1982
Mark S. Beaubien (Acting)	July 1, 1982	January 1984
Craig K. Wallace	January 1984	December 1987
Carl Kupfer (Acting)	January 1, 1988	July 1988
Philip E. Schambra	August 1988	September 30, 1998
Gerald T. Keusch	October 1, 1998	December 31, 2003
Sharon H. Hrynkow (Acting)	January 1, 2004	May 2006
Roger I. Glass, M.D., Ph.D.	May 30, 2006

Research and Research Training Programs

Training Grants

AIDS International Training and Research Program
This program supports HIV/AIDS-related research training to strengthen the capacity of institutions in low- and middle-income countries to conduct multidisciplinary biomedical and behavioral research to address the AIDS epidemic in the collaborating country. Grants are awarded to U.S. and developing country institutions with strong HIV-related research training experience and with HIV-related research collaborations with institutions in low- and middle-income countries. These institutions, in partnership with their foreign collaborating institutions, identify health scientists, clinicians, and allied health workers from the foreign countries to participate in their joint research training programs. Individuals from foreign nations who wish to become trainees must apply to the project director of an awarded grant.

NIH/Fogarty Clinical Research Training Scholars Program
The Fogarty International Center in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is offering a 1-year clinical research training experience for graduate-level U.S. students in the health professions.

Fogarty International Collaborative Trauma and Injury Research Training Program
This program addresses the research needs related to the growing burden of morbidity and mortality in the developing world due to trauma and injury. The program is supported by Fogarty, 7 NIH partners, the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the Pan American Health Organization, and the World Health Organization (WHO). It addresses training across the range of basic to applied science, the epidemiology of risk factors, acute care and survival, rehabilitation, and long-term mental health consequences.

Framework Programs for Global Health
This new initiative builds global health research capacity in the United States and abroad. Through the Framework Programs for Global Health, institutions create administrative frameworks to bring multiple schools (such as engineering, business, chemistry, biology, communication, public health, medicine, and environmental studies) together on the topic of Global Health and develop multidisciplinary Global Health curricula for undergraduates, graduates and professional school students. Each program leverages and enhances currently funded Global Health projects at the institution supported by NIH and other sponsors, as well as encourages new training opportunities, collaborations, and research.

Global Infectious Disease Research Training Program
This program enables institutions in the United States or in developing foreign countries to support current and future collaborative research-related training on infectious diseases that are predominately endemic in or impact upon people living in developing countries.

Informatics Training for Global Health
This initiative supports the development of informatics training programs that will contribute to global health research and informatics capacity in low- and middle-income countries in partnership with U.S. institutions.

International Research Ethics Education and Curriculum Development Award
This program allows domestic or foreign institutions to develop graduate curricula and provide training in international bioethics related to performing research in developing countries.

International Clinical, Operational, and Health Services Research and Training Award
This program supports training to facilitate collaborative, multidisciplinary, international clinical, operational, health services, and prevention science research between U.S. institutions and those in low- and middle-income nations.

International Clinical, Operational, and Health Services Research and Training Award for AIDS and Tuberculosis
This program supports research training to strengthen the capacity of institutions to conduct clinical, operational, and health services research. These institutions are located in low- and middle-income countries where AIDS, TB, or both are significant problems. In Phase I, one-year planning grants to support the development of full research training applications in Phase II are awarded to institutions in low- and middle-income countries with strong HIV- or TB-related research experience. In Phase II, grants to support a research training program are awarded to Phase I awardees and to their United States or other developed country institutional partner with whom they have strong HIV- or TB-related research collaborations. Individuals who wish to become trainees must apply to the project director of an awarded grant.

International Collaborative Genetics Research Training Program
This program supports innovative genetics research training programs in the context of existing scientific collaborations between U.S. and low- and middle-income country researchers to begin to build a critical mass of scientists, health professionals, and academics with human genetics expertise and a sustainable research environment at the collaborating foreign institution.

International Training and Research Program in Environmental and Occupational Health
This program enables U.S. universities and non-profit research institutions to support international training and research programs for scientists from developing nations in general environmental health and occupational health. This is an institutional training grant. Applications are accepted from U.S. institutions in response to a specific request for applications which is published once every 5 years; the first awards were made in 1995. Individuals from foreign countries who wish to become trainees must apply to the project director of an awarded grant.

Global Research Training in Population Health
This program supports international research training for scientists from low- and middle-income nations in population-related sciences. This is an institutional training grant. Individuals from foreign countries who wish to become trainees must apply to the project director of an awarded grant.

Research Grants

Brain Disorders in the Developing World: Research Across the Lifespan
This program supports collaborative research and capacity building projects on brain disorders throughout life, relevant to low- and middle-income nations. Funded projects focus on neurological disorders and function (including sensory, motor, cognitive, and behavioral) and the impairment they lead to throughout life. R21 grants provide support to conduct pilot studies and to organize, plan for, prepare, and assemble an application for a more comprehensive R01 grants. R01 awards involve substantial collaboration between developed and developing country investigators and incorporate both research and capacity building.

Ecology of Infectious Diseases
This program funds interdisciplinary research projects that strive to elucidate the underlying ecological and biological mechanisms that govern the relationships relationships, environmental changes, and the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. The focus of this program is on the development of predictive models for the emergence and transmission of diseases in humans and other animals, and ultimately to facilitate the development of strategies to prevent or control them.

Fogarty International Research Collaboration Award (FIRCA)
This program provides funds ($32,000/year direct costs) to foster international research partnerships between NIH-supported U.S. scientists and their collaborators in countries of the developing world. The FIRCA program aims to benefit the research interests of both the U.S. and foreign collaborators while increasing research capacity at the foreign site. U.S. scientists who have an eligible NIH grant may apply as Principal Investigators. Former FIRCA foreign collaborators may also apply as Principal Investigators. All areas of biomedical, behavioral, and social science research supported by NIH are eligible FIRCA research topics.

Global Health Research Initiative Program for New Foreign Investigators (GRIP)
This initiative promotes productive re-entry of NIH-trained foreign investigators into their home countries as part of a program to enhance the scientific research infrastructure in developing countries, to stimulate research on high priority health-related issues in these countries, and to advance NIH efforts to address health issues of global import. The GRIP provides partial salaries to the foreign researcher returning home and support for research projects.

International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups
This program integrates drug discovery from natural products with conservation of biodiversity and scientific and economic development in host countries. The program is jointly funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Foreign Agriculture Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

International Tobacco and Health Research and Capacity Building Program
This program encourages transdisciplinary approaches to the international tobacco epidemic to reduce the global burden of tobacco-related illness. The program is designed to promote international cooperation between investigators in the U.S. and other high-income nation(s) pursuing research programs on tobacco control, and scientists and institutions in low- and middle-income nation(s), where tobacco consumption is a current or anticipated public health urgency.

Stigma and Global Health Research Program
The purpose of this program is to stimulate interdisciplinary, investigator-initiated research on the role of stigma in health, and on how to intervene to prevent or mitigate its negative effects on the health and welfare of individuals, groups and societies world-wide.

Fogarty Organization
http://www.fic.nih.gov/about/organization.htm

Division of International Relations (DIR)

Fogarty serves as the coordinating link between NIH and other U.S. agencies, foreign governments, and international organizations, on international biomedical research matters. DIR facilitates the development of new partnerships between U.S. scientists and institutions and counterparts abroad to advance research and training in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. DIR works on behalf of Fogarty and the whole of NIH to identify opportunities for collaboration with foreign science funding agencies, the U.S. Department of State, other U.S. technical agencies, and international organizations. Additionally, DIR fosters and facilitates international cooperation in biomedical research by disseminating information on foreign biomedical research activities to the NIH research institutes and informing foreign agencies and institutions, including WHO, about the international activities of the NIH; initiating, developing, and supporting, in cooperation with other NIH offices, new activities to address international health problems; preparing background materials for NIH senior staff participation in international meetings and discussions; providing advice to the NIH director and deputy director and to senior staff of the NIH research institutes on policies and procedures relating to international activities; assisting the institutes by obtaining clearances for awards requiring State Department approval and by interpreting HHS and State Department procedures relating to international travel; serving as a channel for communications to and from U.S. embassies abroad and foreign embassies in Washington; and coordinating responses to inquiries on international issues.

Division of International Epidemiology and Population Studies

This Division plans, designs, and conducts studies to examine factors affecting the application of health science advances for the benefit of populations, particularly in developing countries. The Division performs research in the epidemiology and mathematical modeling of infectious diseases. Primary concentrations include cross-national studies of mortality patterns with special emphasis on influenza-associated disease and vector-borne and vaccine-preventable diseases.

Division of International Science Policy, Planning, and Evaluation

This Division plans and conducts studies relevant to the programmatic and policy directions of Fogarty and that complement the research activities of the categorical institutes of the NIH. The Division also advises the Fogarty Director on the development, analysis, and evaluation of the Center's programs and on international science policy issues.

Division of International Training and Research

This Division administers research and research training grants and fellowships programs, which are active in over 100 countries.