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U.S. Delegation Visits TSU

Four PhD students have been enrolled in the PhD program “Public Health and Epidemiology” of the Faculty of Medicine at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) within the framework of the project “Strategic Training Partnership to End AIDS in Georgia.” The project is supported by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center. PhD students – Maia Kajaia, Esma Imerlishvili, Natalia Adamashvili and Mariana Muziashvili will undergo training in the United States for a period of eight months. Enrollment of the second part of applicants in the PhD program will be announced in March 2022.   

The U.S. delegation consisting of John Justino, director of the University at Albany School of Public Health’s Center for Global Health; Elizabeth Vásquez, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the same school; Professors Mark Kuniholm and Lenore Gensburg, as well as James Tesoriero, director of the AIDS Institute’s Division of HIV/STD Epidemiology, Evaluation and Partner Services, visited Tbilisi State University to discuss an action plan of the joint project of TSU and the Partnership for Research and Action for Health, a local non-governmental organization. The delegation met with Rector of TSU, George Sharvashidze, Dean of the TSU Faculty of Medicine, Dimitri Kordzaia and Head of the Partnership for Research and Action for Health, Mamuka Jibuti.

Rector Sharvashidze said it is one of the largest projects in Georgia in terms of public health. “We had a very interesting meeting with our American partners. Within the framework of this project, ten of our PhD students will leave for the United States, undergo training there and return as qualified scientists. It is a huge and important contribution to that field of medicine which cares about our public health,” he said.

Along with TSU, scientists from Georgian governmental and non-governmental organizations practicing in the field of AIDS, as well as representatives of public health faculties of U.S. partner universities and organizations are also involved in the project implementation.

John Justino, director of the University at Albany School of Public Health’s Center for Global Health, noted that the program will make an important contribution to the improvement of public health in Georgia. He also said that the Center has been cooperating with various Georgian organizations for years, adding that with Tbilisi State University, they are working to enhance PhD Program in Public Health and Epidemiology.

Dean of the TSU Faculty of Medicine, Dimitri Kordzaia said “it is the first time the American side fully finances the PhD program, including the eight-month visit of PhD students to the United States.” “On the one hand, an educational grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health is very prestigious, and on the other, we are glad that 10 researchers trained in public health sphere will become our employees and continue their research and work at TSU,” Kordzaia noted.

The 5-year project plan includes the three main components: long-term training in frames of which 10 TSU doctoral students will be trained for eight months in the U.S., four months completing selected public health coursework at Albany SPH and four months in a practice-based internship at the NYSDOH-AI; all 10 doctoral students will be trained and mentored at public health doctoral program at TSU; short-term training in frames of which 30 post-doctoral students/researchers (in addition to 10 doctoral students) and faculty will receive implementation research training conducted jointly by the U.S. and TSU faculty and NGO partners, featuring hands-on learning and case examples using Georgian HIV/AIDS policies and data; build institutional capacity of TSU doctoral program to deliver implementation science training.

To build institutional capacities of TSU’s PhD program and research partners, one new education course will be added to the doctoral program and four main courses will be improved.

The grant project “Strategic Training Partnership to End AIDS in Georgia” was launched in June 2020.