Argentinean researcher will receive training on the Clinical Research Platform

In another initiative to strengthen international partnerships at Fiocruz, the Vice-Presidency of Research and Biological Collections (VPPCB) is receiving this year a scientist for training in clinical research.

Argentina's Dolores Carrer was selected through the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), an activity of the World Health Organization (WHO) that allows early to mid-career researchers in low- and middle-income countries to train in conducting clinical trials. The selected candidates are of different nationalities, from countries with limited resources, and who have an interest in expanding knowledge in neglected diseases.

The partnership with Fiocruz, Pasteur Institute and the TDR program selects professionals who undergo a 12-month training in organizations that may be pharmaceutical industries, product development partnerships, or internationally recognized research institutes, providing training in research; critical preparedness and response; situation analysis and surveillance; infection control and clinical management; and data generation analysis and reporting.

The VPPCB Clinical Research Platform is the area responsible for the training at Fiocruz. Dolores began her journey at Fiocruz participating as an auditor in the post-graduate course in clinical trials monitoring, promoted in a partnership between the VPPCB, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Evandro Chagas (INI), and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).

An adjunct researcher at the Ferreyra Institute in Cordoba, Dolores Carrer already works with basic and applied research, and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at the National University of Cordoba (UNC). For her the arrival at Fiocruz will bring new opportunities. "Through this TDR Program I will have the chance to interact with researchers at the Foundation, who have a lot of experience and tradition in neglected diseases, in particular in the clinical development of pharmacological treatments, something I have a lot to learn. My line of research is focused on the skin and the development of controlled release systems for drugs that will act on the skin, in particular with the treatment against tegumentary leishmaniasis."

The coordinator of the Clinical Research Platform, tropicalist and sanitarian, André Daher, explains that the Platform supports transversal activities in clinical research aimed at the technological development of products for the Unified Health System (SUS), which led to Fiocruz's participation in the TDR initiative. "The participation of the Fiocruz Clinical Research Platform as a member of the WHO program shows the recognition of the work started in 2009, and the arrival of an Argentinean researcher further strengthens the women scientists in Latin America. Our activities in clinical research are very diverse, allowing for extensive training of the researcher through in-service training."

This is the second time that a foreign researcher has participated in the program at the VPPCB. In 2019, physician Clarisse Dah from Burkina Faso completed the Clinical Research Platform training.

This year eighteen researchers worldwide have been selected to receive TDR research and clinical development grants.

Dolores Carrer arrives in Brazil in August.