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Grant/Contract Program

Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research Liberia (PEER/Liberia)

PEER/Liberia was a partnership among the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences/A.M. Dogliotti Medical School (AMD), the Liberia College of Physicians and Surgeons (LCPS), SIM/ELWA Hospital, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University to build medical education and clinical research capacity in Liberia in 2018-2023.

Completed

Statement of Task

Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research Liberia (PEER/Liberia) was a sub-program under PEER funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Based on the success of PEER, the U.S. Congress authorized funds designated to the PEER program to increase Liberia's clinical research capacity and support training of Liberian specialty and subspecialty physicians, particularly those charged with addressing the health care needs of Ebola survivors. After a competitive selection process evaluated interested institutional applicants in 2017, PEER/Liberia-funded activities ran from 2018 through 2023. They were conducted by a partnership involving the University of Liberia College of Health Sciences/A.M. Dogliotti Medical School (AMD), the Liberia College of Physicians and Surgeons (LCPS), SIM/ELWA Hospital, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University to build medical education and clinical research capacity in Liberia. Working together, the consortium aimed to strengthen medical training and build specialty/subspecialty medical capacity in Liberia; improve the ability of Liberia to conduct clinical research; and increase access to specialty care for Ebola survivors and the broader population.

This $6 million program was established in 2016 and completed in October 2023. The consortium members faced many challenges in implementing the planned activities due to the many problems facing the Liberian academic and clinical sectors, including shortages of trained staff, equipment, and research management infrastructure. Thanks to the extraordinary commitment and dedicated efforts of the Liberian and U.S. partners, however, great progress was made by the time the program was completed. PEER/Liberia funding facilitated a major curriculum restructuring at AMD, training for clinical and preclinical faculty, graduate fellowships for students, development of a new clinical research training program and a new family medicine residency program, upgrades of the lab infrastructure, and creation of a dedicated grants management office at ULCHS. Although PEER/Liberia has ended, related collaborative activities are continuing thanks to USAID's direct support of the program BRIDGE-U: Liberia - Applying Research for a Health Liberia, a $15 million activity running from 2021 through 2026.

Contributors

Sponsors

USAID

Staff

Kelly Robbins

Lead

Major units and sub-units

Policy and Global Affairs

Lead

Development, Security, and Cooperation - Grant Programs

Lead

Global Sustainability and Development

Lead

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