The Fogarty International Center, US- National Institutes of Health has agreed to support the project “TB/MDR-TB Research Training and Capacity Strengthening for LMICs in Southeast Asia Phase III” to Professor Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong, Curriculum Chairman of the International Programme for Graduate Study in Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University (PSU) for another 5 years, from 2026 to 2031.

This is a renewal of the same project of Phase I and II, 2015-2020 and 2020-2026, respectively. The Low- and Middle-Income countries (LMICs) in the past two phases included Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia. The new phase has extended the collaboration to include Vietnam.
The first two phases focused on training researchers at PhD, MSc and short course level. The new phase has shifted the emphasis to training postdoctoral fellows. The PhD and Master students usually spend at least two-third of their study period at PSU and the remaining period to collect data based at their home institutes. The postdoc fellows under this Phase III project, in contrast, will spend most of their time in their countries, not just to do research but also to facilitate local capacity strengthening process under the guidance and supervision of mentors from PSU and partners from other institutions in Thailand and USA. The improvement in research capacity will eventually support to END TB, a global endeavour.