10/03/2022

Global Initiative:

Emory University NIH Fogarty International Center D43 Training Program

Consortium for Violence Prevention Research, Leadership Training, and Implementation for Excellence (CONVERGE): Training Science Leaders in Gender-Based-Violence and Violence-Against-Children for Public Health Impact

Gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against children (VAC) are prevalent and highly inter-connected global health challenges, yet data and research capacities to study these forms of violence and to generate evidence-based policies and programs remain limited. To address critical shortages in research capacity in Vietnam and to establish a model for other LMICs, we established CONVERGE—Consortium for Violence Prevention Research, Implementation, and Leadership Training for Excellence. CONVERGE connects experts from Emory University, Hanoi Medical University, partner institutions in Atlanta and Vietnam, and partners around the world, with the goal of providing mentored research opportunities for early-career scientists in GBV and VAC research and prevention in Vietnam.

The CONVERGE training program aligns with national research priorities of Vietnam and leverages over 12 years of collaboration between consortium partners in Atlanta and Vietnam, demonstrating the high feasibility of achieving our program aims. Our mentorship training emphasizes trainee empowerment, transparent mentor-mentee collaboration, and team-based mentoring with trained mentors, creating a pipeline of early- and mid-career researchers who are skilled mentors. Our long-term post-doctoral research training is grounded in successful integrated, interdisciplinary training programs with Emory and other partners and is tailored to meet identified needs in Vietnam. Our advanced leadership, science dissemination, and implementation science short courses address documented needs in Vietnam, build on and amplify Emory’s successful leadership training programs, and will accelerate the translation of evidence into contextually relevant policies, programs, and best practices.

Our training plan also aligns with strategic priorities of several divisions of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) related to women’s health, child health and human development, mental health, minority health and health disparities, alcohol abuse and alcoholism, drug abuse, and general medicine. Our intentional integration of GBV and VAC research with intersecting health conditions and health disparities creates a platform for future grant submissions by CONVERGE trainee graduates. For all these reasons, CONVERGE members are energized to meet the demand for locally relevant violence prevention research, implementation, and leadership training for excellence in Vietnam.

Following a socio-ecological model for change, the CONVERGE consortium aims to nurture emerging scientist leaders, science-practitioner networks, institutional capacities, and evidence-based policy for the prevention of gender-based violence and violence against children in Vietnam.

CONVERGE is co-led by Dr. Kathryn M. Yount at the Emory University and Dr. Le Minh Giang at the Hanoi Medical University and benefits from a leadership team that spans both institutions.

Figure 1. One-Month Intensive Training of Our Inaugural Cohort of CONVERGE Fellows, Emory University May 2022

Figure 2 Enjoying a Final Dinner Before Returning to Vietnam

Figure 3. Final Presentations of Proposed Research Projects with Dr. Le Minh Giang Calling from Vietnam, May, 2022