Researchers interested in applying for the NIDA U.S.-Mexico Drug Abuse Prevention Research Fellowship need to submit application materials by April 1, 2013.
The Fellowship provides researchers who are citizens or permanent residents of Mexico with a year of postdoctoral training in the United States. Fellows are mentored by NIDA-supported grantees at U.S. institutions, joining a network of international scientists conducting drug abuse research globally.
The first Fellowship was awarded in 2012 to Dr. Argentina Elisa N. Servin Aguirre, a physician trained in preventive medicine, infectious disease, and clinical epidemiology. For her fellowship, Dr. Servin Aguirre is analyzing data from a NIDA-funded project studying HIV risk in two Mexican cities that border on the United States: Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez. Her analyses focus on intergenerational injection drug use and commercial sex work; how familial factors relate to female sex workers’ entry into that work; women’s experiences with sexual violence; and the connections between sexual and drug-related risk behaviors and HIV infection.
Dr. Servin Aguirre’s goal is to break the cycle of drug use and sex-for-drugs that contributes to the HIV epidemic in northern Mexico. Her mentors are Dr. Steffanie Strathdee and Dr. Jay G. Silverman, of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
“Opportunities to work with such experts are not always available for researchers in my country,” says Dr. Servin Aguirre. “I encourage other Mexicans to take advantage of the unique U.S.-Mexican Drug Abuse Prevention Research Fellowship.”
Dr. Servin Aguirre co-authored two recently published papers focusing on health care among HIV-positive patients living in San Diego, California, and Tijuana:
- Servin et al. Choosing sides: HIV health care practices among shared populations of HIV-positive Latinos living near the U.S.-Mexico Border. J Int Assoc Physicians AIDS Care 11(6):348-355, 2012. Abstract
- Muňoz et al. A binational comparison of HIV provider attitudes towards the use of complementary and alternative medicine among HIV-positive Latino patients receiving care in the U.S.-Mexico border region. AIDS Care 2012 Oct. 23 [Epub ahead of print] Full Text
The Fellowship is a partnership between NIDA, the Society for Prevention Research, and the National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muňiz in Mexico, with the participation of the National Commission Against Addictions (CONADIC) of Mexico.
The NIDA International Program Web site provides complete information on the Fellowship, including application instructions.