International Genetics Training Program

An international training program in genetics has been announced that will be conducted by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (Baltimore, MD, USA) in conjunction with Peking Union Medical College and Peking University in Beijing.

The collaboration, called the International Collaborative Genetics Research Training Program, will bring students, researchers and clinicians from two of China's premier academic institutions to Hopkins for training in genetics, medical genetics and bioethics. Ensuing research projects will be focused on genetic components of health and disease in China, says Ethylin Jabs, M.D., principal investigator on the grant.

"The idea is to seed a developing country with expertise in genetics, particularly medical genetics, while providing a strong background in how to use genetics and genetic research responsibly,” explained Dr. Jabs, a professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute for Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The training program is being funded by a five-year, US$2 million grant from the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Trainees will come to Baltimore for instruction in genetic epidemiology and biostatistics at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and travel to Bar Harbor, Maine (USA), for a course in medical and experimental mammalian genetics, co-sponsored for more than 40 years by Johns Hopkins and The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor.

Longer-term trainees will enter Hopkins' Master of Public Health or Master of Science in Genetic Counseling program or obtain a postdoctoral position in any one of a number of departments. Hopkins personnel will also travel to China to teach. About 30 faculty members from Hopkins and the Chinese institutions will be involved with the program through teaching or advising trainees.



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