College of Public Health Spotlights
When Tamer Saeed Osman and Benjawan Khuntirat sorted through a collection of mosquitoes and studied them in an Iowa laboratory last May, they were gaining valuable knowledge that may aid efforts to control infectious diseases in their home countries.
Osman, who works in an infection control unit in Egypt, and Khuntirat, a virology researcher from Thailand, are pursuing a Certificate in Emerging Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, a new program offered by the College of Public Health. The certificate provides advanced training in emerging infectious diseases and is aimed at international public health practitioners.
“Unfortunately, avian flu is one of the largest health concerns in Egypt,” said Osman “The UI course helped me increase my knowledge of different laboratory techniques to detect and study the influenza viruses, which increased my capacities to participate and conduct other prospective influenza research studies.”
Twenty-three international researchers, including Osman and Khuntirat, gathered on the UI campus in May to attend an intensive two-week course that included the mosquitoes assignment among other lab exercises, field experiences, demonstrations, and lectures. This course combined with two subsequent semesters of web-based distance-learning courses completes the 12-semester‐hour graduate certificate.
"The Certificate in Emerging Infectious Disease Epidemiology is cutting-edge from an educational exchange perspective, as well as a scientific perspective, because it combines short-term on-campus study with distance-education, making the program affordable and convenient,” said Amy Engelmann, program coordinator.
The certificate program facilitates international partnerships and enhances the performance of collaborating researchers, which is important in a field that has no borders. The first group of trainees represent 12 nations from across the globe including: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States.
“I believe that emerging viruses and diseases are an international concern,” Khuntirat said. “For example, SARS was first reported in Asia in February 2003. Over the next few months, the illness spread to more than two dozen countries before the SARS global outbreak of 2003 was contained.
We have to be alert of what is happening not only in our backyard, but also in our neighborhood.”
Program participants said they particularly enjoyed the opportunity to interact with fellow researchers and exchange experiences.
"Sharing our problems and efforts to solve them pointed out the fact that emerging infectious diseases are an international problem," Osman said. "Following the time line of emerging infections clearly pointed out the fact that ‘your problem today will be mine tomorrow.'" His lab partner agreed.
"I’ve learned to be humble and seek help from colleagues on the subjects with which you are not familiar," Khuntirat said. "We are all potential collaborators, not competitors."
Photos by Greg Gray, Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases