Summary

The Drexel Urban Health Collaborative (UHC) and the Research Center for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (CIIPEC) at the Institute for Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) partnered to establish a training program on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk across the lifespan.

This training program was established, in part, because CVD incidence and the prevalence of CVD risk factors have steadily increased in the Central American region over the last several decades. The rise of CVD in the region has occurred parallel to the increases in urbanization and widening social inequities and poses a growing burden for its limited public health and health care systems.

The overarching goal of the training program is to increase local capacity to conduct policy-relevant research about the influence of social determinants and place-based factors on CVD. The program aims to provide training and mentoring of the local workforce in identifying relevant research questions, in the use of appropriate research methods, and in the dissemination of results to the scientific community, the public, and policy makers. Formulating and addressing locally relevant research questions and disseminating research results are critical to identify and develop interventions to prevent CVD in the region.

The training program is funded by the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health. The grant mechanism that funds the program seeks to sustainably strengthen the research capacity of institutions in low and middle income countries, and to train in-country experts to develop and conduct locally relevant research, and disseminate research results.

Overall Training Program Goals

The training program has four goals:

1. To train predoctoral students (at the master’s and doctoral levels) in research methods with a focus on social determinants of CVD and CVD risk factors.
2. To provide mentored research opportunities for (a) postdoctoral scholars at INCAP; and (b) visiting research fellows at Drexel, through their engagement in mentored research on social determinants of CVD and CVD risk factors.
3. To assist in the development of local research capacity with a special focus on quantitative methods through the conduct of an annual methods-oriented training workshops and periodic webinars.
4. To increase local capacity and infrastructure for research by increasing access to data, substantive and analytical expertise, mentors and opportunities for exchange and south-south collaboration. The program leverages data and collaborative opportunities available through the SALURBAL Study, the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative, and the Urban Health Network for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Training Opportunities

The training provided by the program emphasizes: 1) a focus on factors at multiple levels (from cities, to neighborhoods, to persons) and over the lifecourse; 2) the use of rigorous state-of-the-art methods; 3) an emphasis on the value of interdisciplinary approaches; 4) dissemination and translation of research findings into policy actions.

Only permanent residents and citizens of the INCAP-associated countries were eligible to apply through this training program (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Belize). Individuals who have permanent residency in the U.S. or other high-income countries were not eligible.

Meet some of our current Drexel-INCAP Research Fellows.

The program is in its last year of funding and is no longer accepting applications for funding. However, the program continues to offer a webinar series.

Annual Workshop, Periodic Webinars and Journal Clubs

Learn More

Questions?

For questions please contact: Dina Roche, (droche@incap.int), Fernanda Kroker (fkroker@incap.int) and/or Brisa Sánchez (bns48@drexel.edu)

Acknowledgements

Training Team Leaders

• Ana Diez-Roux, Drexel University
• Fernanda Kroker-Lobos, INCAP
• Manuel Ramirez-Zea, INCAP
• Brisa N. Sánchez, Drexel University

Training Team Collaborators

• Amy H. Auchincloss, Drexel University
• Sharrelle Barber, Drexel University
• Tonatiuh Barrientos-Gutierrez, National Institute of Public Health, Mexico
• Usama Bilal, Drexel University
• Ana Garcés, INCAP
• Giovanna Gatica-Domínguez, INCAP
• Stephen E. Lankenau, Drexel University
• Mariana Lazo-Elizondo, Drexel University
• Gina S. Lovasi, Drexel University
• Ana Martinez-Donate, Drexel University
• Mónica Mazariegos, INCAP
• Juan J. Miranda, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Perú
• D. Alexander Quistberg, Drexel University
• Olga L. Sarmiento, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
• Loni P. Tabb, Drexel University

Advisory Committee

• Juan Ángel Rivera Dommarco, National Institute of Public Health, Mexico
• Waleska Teixeira Caiaffa, Federal University of Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil
• Alex Ezeh, Drexel University
• Peter Rohloff, Maya Health Alliance, Guatemala

Funding Statement: The program is funded in part by NIH-Fogarty grant D43TW011971 (Sánchez/Diez-Roux, MPIs).