UM will participate in a national center for bioterrorism training

Lantana would not replace the Miami in University of Miami Medical School, but it stands to become a sizable hub for research and education in the university's portion of a proposed institute at the site of A.G. Holley State Hospital.

The institute is envisioned to become a national center for bioterrorism training, research on mosquito-borne and tropical diseases, education of the hemisphere's public health experts, and research on infectious diseases, the medical school's project leader said Tuesday. [...]

At the institute, the university would open a satellite of its graduate degree program in public health and would expand the rotation of students at the Health Department, McCoy said. [...]

"Our main goal is the training of other researchers globally, especially in Latin America," McCoy said.

In addition, the institute would allow McCoy to expand a new unit researching tropical diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. The medical school last year recruited a nationally known expert, John Beier, to head the unit.

Also to be expanded would be the university's program for training Florida health department employees, physicians, firefighters and police in bioterrorism issues, under state contracts. McCoy said the university wants to offer the training nationally and internationally.

[Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]