Distance learning
Selected participants will be enrolled in one course as a distance student for the purpose of professional improvement without taking a leave of absence from their institution. Distance trainees may be former, or newly-selected, intermediate-term trainees or other. Courses will be offered in the summer and fall 2008 or spring 2009.

Other forms of distance learning will include ITREOH Seminars using Elluminate to connect participants and speakers. We plan to have monthly meetings and to set up a list of topics and speakers. The seminar committee will be members of the FAN. Up to 100 listeners and speakers can participate at one time.

Training programs
* Intermediate-Term Training is a 4 ½ month stay (one semester) during which trainees enroll in two or more graduate courses to deepen and/or expand their research interests and skills, in addition to working with a mentor in a research area of their choice.  Program expectations are the completion (rough draft) of a research proposal for a collaborative project by the end of the stay, and planning of a one-day workshop to be presented in the trainee’s home country or as part of the Fogarty Summer Institute.

* Short-Term Training entails four to eight week periods of time at The University of Iowa. Specifically goals are carefully crafted before the visit and consist of such activities as preparing manuscripts, learning new research techniques, interviewing specialists in their area, experiencing different professional approaches, using libraries and database facilities, and developing new curriculum. Short-term trainees may be former trainees or new to the program.

Graduates of the training programs become automatically members of the Fogarty Alumni Network.

Summer Institutes
Events that provide keynote speeches, six to eight one-day workshops (some concurrent), poster presentations, and business meetings. The target audience is Fogarty alumni and other public, environmental and occupational health professionals in the region.

The first Summer Institute was held in 2002, at Trnava University in Trnava, Slovak Republic. The purpose of the institute has been to provide basic and postgraduate training in occupational and environmental health topics with an emphasis on rural settings and populations. The target audiences included professionals in public, occupational and environmental health from the Central and Eastern European region. 

A focal issue or topic was selected for each Summer Institute.  Examples have included (1) the decision of the European Parliament and Council of Europe on Community Action Plan for the field of Public Health, 2003-2008; (2) research and policy development related to environmental and occupational exposure to PCBs and (3) evidence-based public health.  Participation has averaged around 35 environmental, occupational and public health professionals each year from Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Macedonia.  Speakers have come from Germany, Denmark, the US, and our collaborating countries.

Starting in 2004, the Summer Institute evolved into a two-part program.  Using web-conferencing we held a series of lectures from March through May.  Experts from a number of US and European universities gave presentations from their home countries.  Participants also logged on from their home countries and were able to listen and watch the presentations, to ask questions and to make comments. These same participants then came together in Trnava to attend the five-day, on-site part of the program.  Benefits of linking the on-line segment to the on-site segment are several.  It is more cost efficient, participants are more easily able to spend one week rather than two in Trnava, and more expertise is available for the on-line segment.  In addition when participants met at the on-site segment they were already acquainted with each other and with the issues previously discussed, and much more was then able to be accomplished.

Workshops
As part of the Summer Institutes or independently intermediate term trainees organize with their mentors workshops on relevant topics. The 2-3 days events are designed to train and develop collaborations with researchers and students.