Welcome to NYS-ITRP Connections, the official newsletter of the New York State International Training and Research program! NYS-ITRP is a multi-institutional, multi-national collaborative effort sponsored by the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that trains research professionals and builds research capacity in HIV and related diseases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 

Building on twenty-four years of experience in the region, NYS-ITRP’s goal is to train the next generation of research scientists to confront the challenges of HIV disease in Former Soviet Union states. NYS-ITRP is cooperatively administered by the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center (SUNY-DMC) STAR Program http://www.starprogram.nyc/, the State University of New York School of Public Health at Albany (SUNY-SPH) and the New York State Department of Health.

This edition features highlights on what’s new in our target countries of Ukraine and Kazakhstan; video interviews with our current students and faculty;interviews with our featured alumni student, Yulia Sereda, and an update on trainee publications.