The Fogarty Indo-US Training Program in Behavioral Health Across the Lifespan at the University of Florida is designed to reduce the training gap, increase research capacity, and concentrate on behavioral conditions that are often ignored but represent a growing factor in the burden of disease in India, such as addiction, suicide, and mental health.

The training program focuses on three locations in India: Assam, Sikkim, and Karnataka. Participants include people who have a PhD or an MD or equivalent in psychiatry, hold a research faculty position, and are willing to return to India after completing their months-long training. Trainees have the opportunity to participate in ongoing research, write grants and manuscripts, and learn responsible conduct of research, principles of community engaged research, assessment development, and data management and analysis.

UF welcomed three new trainees this fall: Dr. Shankar Das, Dr. Mythili Hazarika and Dr. Hanjabam Shukhdeba Sharma. An additional five trainees have completed their fellowships and returned to India.

The Fogarty Indo-US Training Program is directed by Dr. Linda B. Cottler, chair of the department of epidemiology at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions and the UF College of Medicine, and funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center. Collaborators include the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences in Bangalore, Karnataka, Lokopriya Gopinath Bardoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health in Tejpur, Assam and Voluntary Health Association of Sikkim in Gangtok, Sikkim.