New Course Highlights Core I-TECH Principles

Posted on March 7, 2014May 1, 2017

ethics_screenshot I-TECH is proud to announce the launch of a new online course, Ethical Conduct & Academic Integrity: Protecting Human Subjects in the Global Health Setting. The course will be required for all I-TECH staff involved in research, program management, monitoring and evaluation, data collection or analysis, or publication activities.

The goal of this course is to instruct members of the I-TECH team on the organization’s expectations of ethical conduct in research and evaluation activities. These expectations include conducting ethical and responsible research and programmatic work; protecting participants in studies, evaluations, and data collection activities; appropriately publishing original work; and avoiding academic misconduct.

“The principles of integrity and quality work form the foundation of everything we do,” said Ann Downer, I-TECH Executive Director. “The Ethical Conduct & Academic Integrity course will not only instruct us on the practical application of these principles, but also help us keep these values at the forefront of our thinking. It is essential to effectively — and ethically — implement our health systems strengthening projects that are affecting the lives of so many around the world.”

Created by a team led by Research and Publications Manager Ellen Wilcox and E-Learning Specialist Leslie Wall, the course is divided into four half-hour “modules,” or lessons:

Module 1: Overview
Module 2: IRB and Ethics Committees
Module 3: Human Subjects and Informed Consent
Module 4: Academic Integrity

The modules present the learner with scenarios that describe potential misconduct, definitions, historical background, helpful tips and reminders, and, finally a quiz captured by Canvas, the University of Washington’s learning management system (LMS).

The course in its entirety is publicly available in the Canvas LMS at https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/889645. The modules are also published on the University of Washington Department of Global Health E-learning portal at http://edgh.washington.edu/series/ethical-conduct-academic-integrity.

Moving forward, I-TECH will also require staff to take a yearly training on ethics and academic integrity. To this end, starting in 2015, I-TECH will offer an annual webinar to give staff the opportunity to discuss ethical issues and to ask questions about the UW Internal Review Board and ethics oversight process.

I-TECH’s Holmes Receives Gairdner Foundation’s 2013 Global Health Award

Uncategorized

Posted on October 28, 2013May 1, 2017

holmes I-TECH’s founding principal investigator Dr. King Holmes received the Gairdner Foundation’s 2013 Global Health Award last week for his scientific contributions to the field of sexually transmitted diseases.

Holmes received the award in Toronto in front of an audience of fellow scientists and researchers. The Gairdner Awards are Canada’s foremost science honor.

According to an article about the event in the Globe and Mail, Holmes cautioned that although strides are being made in under resourced countries to prevent the spread of HIV, residents of other nations may becoming complacent against the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Dr. Holmes said rates of HIV remain high in developed countries despite new treatments, a sign that not enough prevention is done.

“Expert diagnosis and treatment for those who show up at your clinics is essential, but this alone is a drop in the bucket,” he said, alluding to the need to fight “condom fatigue” in high-risk groups.

These setbacks are occurring as infection rates are decreasing in lower-income countries, he noted.

Read the entire article on the Globe and Mail‘s website.

TrainSMART Now Available in Seven Languages

Uncategorized

Posted on August 14, 2013November 1, 2019

The Training System Monitoring and Reporting Tool (TrainSMART) is now translated into Spanish and Portuguese, along with French, Dutch, Ukrainian, Russian, and English.

TrainSMART is an open-source, web-based training data collection system. It allows users to accurately track data about training programs, trainers, and trainees, to better evaluate programs and report activities to stakeholders. In addition to capturing training and participant data, TrainSMART has a robust reporting module that allows users to run various automatic reports, as well as create and save customized reports that can be run at any interval.

The new languages are already available for use on all websites. TrainSMART administrators may activate them in the Administrative section under “Country Setup.”

TrainSMART has been deployed in more than 25 countries and scales effectively from small, institution-level deployments to national implementation.

Dr King Holmes Wins Gairdner Foundation’s 2013 Global Health Award

Uncategorized

Posted on March 21, 2013May 1, 2017

I-TECH’s founding principal investigator Dr King Holmes has been awarded the Gairdner Foundation’s 2013 Global Health Award for his scientific contributions to the field of sexually transmitted diseases. Holmes holds the William H. Foege Endowed Chair in Global Health at the UW Department of Global Health, where I-TECH is based, and has led I-TECH since its inception.

The award recognizes “a scientist whose research has made, or has the potential to make, a significant impact on health in the developing world.” The Foundation notes that “King has spent 45 years researching sexually transmitted diseases. His work has led to many diagnostic tests and therapies for treating and preventing numerous infections, including human papilloma virus, gonorrhea, chlamydia and genital herpes.”

Announcing the award in an e-mail to the UW School of Public Health, Dean Howard Frumkin wrote, “King has been a force of nature here at UW, as a longtime leader in the School of Medicine, and more recently as Chair of Global Health—a leader in education, in research, and in program-building, a mentor and role model to many, a true gentleman, and a friend. Please join me in congratulating him on this signal, and richly deserved, honor.”