Notice of Invitation to Biotechnology Companies to Attend the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Research Consortium Meeting


Notice Number: NOT-RM-12-029

Key Dates

Release Date: July 25, 2012

Issued by

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund

Purpose

The first H3Africa Research Consortium meeting will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from October 8 to 10, 2012. In conjunction with the meeting, the first set of H3Africa grantees will be announced by the sponsors, the National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust. The primary purpose of the Research Consortium meeting will be to provide the funded investigators an opportunity to describe their projects and to begin to discuss a variety of organizational and policy issues relevant to the H3Africa Research Consortium. The purpose of this Notice is to alert biotechnology companies that provide services to African researchers, of the opportunity to attend the open portions of this inaugural meeting of the H3Africa Research Consortium in order to meet the H3Africa grantees.

H3Africa, which is a partnership among the National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA), the Wellcome Trust (WT, UK), and the African Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG), was designed to facilitate a contemporary research approach to the study of the genomic and environmental determinants of common diseases in Africa, with the goal of improving the health of African populations. The goals of H3Africa are to enhance the necessary genomic expertise among African scientists, and to establish networks of African investigators by supporting infrastructure development and research projects to address health inequities in both communicable and non-communicable diseases that will eventually lead to health benefits in Africa. To address these goals, both the NIH and the Wellcome Trust published calls for applications which, over the past year, have been reviewed and will be awarded in late summer, 2012. More information about the H3Africa initiative and a White Paper containing recommendations for the program can be found at www.h3africa.org.

The Agenda for the first H3Africa Research Consortium meeting will include an open session with presentations by H3Africa grantees of their proposed research. There will also be opportunities during the meeting and in the evenings for interested biotechnology company staff to meet with the grantees to discuss research services or technologies needed.

The NIH staff are available at the following email address to answer any questions. If your company is interested in H3Africa please notify the H3Africa by sending an e-mail to H3Africa@nih.gov by Monday, September 10, 2012.

Meeting Details

Inaugural H3Africa Research Consortium Meeting

The Sheraton Addis Hotel 

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

8-10 October 2012

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Jane L Peterson, Ph.D. or Mark S. Guyer, Ph.D.
H3Africa Program Staff
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
National Institutes of Health
Email: H3Africa@nih.gov