a1990: Award for Francine Noel (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

NEW YORK, May 9 (ASCRIBE NEWS) -- This week, during the UN Special Session
on Children in New York, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
announced the first recipients of the newly established International
Leadership Awards. Three women: Dr. Francine Noel of Port au-Prince, Haiti;
Dr. Celia Christie of Kingston, Jamaica; and Dr. Dorothy Mbori-Ngacha of
Nairobi, Kenya were chosen out of 70 applicants from around the world.
   The three-year, $450,000 International Leadership Award grants are
designed to invest in trained individuals in resource-poor countries who
have the potential to develop programs which will have a direct and
enduring impact on the pediatric HIV epidemic in their country, but lack
the resources to do so.
   "Most researchers in resource-poor countries are educated and initially
trained in developed nations," said Dr. Catherine Wilfert, Scientific
Director of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. "But when they
return to their own countries, there are very few resources or established
programs available to help them put their new skills to use. This program
will help them focus their efforts not on finding bits and pieces of
funding, but on helping children."
   The first recipients of this award are all native to their countries.
They also have something else in common. All three of them are women.
   "While we could never have imagined that the top three applicants would
be female, it is thrilling to recognize these women as leaders in their
field," observed Kate Carr the President and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser
Pediatric AIDS Foundation. "These women are uniquely qualified to
understand the big picture," said Carr. "There is a desperate need for
trained people in resource poor settings. The need is not just about the
research findings, it is also about putting these findings into practice.
This grant will have a dramatic impact on health care for thousands of
children."
   The International Leadership Award program, which specifically seeks to
identify individuals who are likely to have an enduring impact on
controlling the global pandemic, also has a collaborative component that is
a signature of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Award
recipients will mentor a minimum of three additional people who will help
to achieve project goals and also benefit from the experience. Recipients
will also be given the opportunity to share their findings and experiences
with scientists in other developing countries.
   "The Foundation's intent is to have the International Leadership Award
program, which is modeled after the success of their Elizabeth Glaser
Scientist Award, help foster the next generation of leaders who will
collaborate and share their knowledge so that the community of
international HIV/AIDS leaders continues to grow," added Carr.
   International Leadership Award recipients will create HIV/AIDS research
and implementation programs in areas including epidemiology, vaccine
development, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, treatment of
infected mothers and infants, development of national policies or
strategies to combat pediatric HIV, assessment of economic impact of
disease and its prevention, or training of additional in-country and
regional professionals.
   Francine Noel, MD will be working to improve the care of HIV infected
mothers and infants in Haiti, where the seroprevalence of HIV is the
highest in the Western Hemisphere. The goals of her work will be to develop
a practical protocol to reduce MTCT in Haiti and create guidelines for
Haiti to optimize the treatment of opportunistic infections of HIV-infected
infants and children.
   Celia D.C. Christie, MD, DMPeads, MPH, FAAP is working to create a model
program for Jamaica. Dr. Christie will coordinate a leadership team and
create a unified program to significantly reduce MTCT of HIV in Jamaica,
where the rate of infection has risen steadily over the last decade. The
program optimizes prevention and treatment for children and will provide
for counseling, screening and treatment for women, as well as regular
health care and monitoring of infected infants and children in preparation
for effective antiretroviral therapy.
   Experiences gained from pilot sites implementing MTCT of HIV programs in
Africa demonstrate uptake of testing and treatment have been unexpectedly
low due to potential barriers such as quality of provider-client
interactions, and social and cultural factors including stigma. Dorothy A.
Mbori-Ngacha, MD will conduct an observational study to determine whether
offering women routine HIV testing with the option to 'opt-out' will
improve the acceptance of testing, uptake of drugs designed to reduce
transmission, and prevention of infant infection when compared to the
conventional model of antenatal voluntary counseling and testing. Dr.
Mbori- Ngacha's work will be conducted in Nairobi, Kenya but will have
implications in communities throughout Africa and the developing world.
   The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is the leading worldwide
nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying, funding, and conducting
pediatric HIV/AIDS research as well as promoting global education,
awareness, and compassion about HIV/AIDS in children. In addition, the
Foundation is committed to working on other serious and life-threatening
diseases facing children through the newly created Glaser Pediatric
Research Network. The Network brings together five of the nation's pre-
eminent academic medical centers in an unprecedented collaboration that
will accelerate better treatments for seriously ill children, help train
the next generation of pediatric clinical investigators, and serve as a
united voice to advocate policies that improve children's health worldwide.
   Since 1988, the Foundation has raised more than $130 million to ensure
that children are at the forefront of every scientific breakthrough.