PATS MECOR

The Pan African Thoracic Society – Methods in Epidemiologic, Clinical and Operations Research (PATS-MECOR) course was started in 2007 and has run annually since. From 2007 to 2009 in Blantyre, Malawi and in 2010 and 2011 in Brackenhurst, Kenya.

The course was initiated by Dr Stephen Gordon of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and funded by a 5-year grant from the Nuffield Foundation and is based on the successful American Thoracic Society (ATS) MECOR programme It is designed for pulmonary clinicians, investigators, and academicians to provide training in research methods.

There are 3 levels of the course available and further details of these can be obtained at:

http://www.thoracic.org/global-health/mecor-courses/index.php

“The beneficiaries will be the health care professionals who study on the courses, the institutions and students with whom the MECOR graduates will subsequently carry out research work and the public who will benefit from the proper description of the burden of disease in Africa. Ultimately, detailed knowledge of the burden of respiratory disease in sub-Saharan Africa will provide impetus to focused health care interventions in the region.”
Dr Stephen Gordon

The Future of PATS MECOR

The major funder of the programme from 2007 - 2011 has been the Nuffield Foundation under their Africa Programme. We are very grateful for their support which has allowed annual courses to be held firstly in Malawi and for the last 2 years in Kenya. We are now actively seeking further support for the programme and have made provisional arrangements to hold PATS MECOR 2012 from the 10th to the 14th of September. Prospective applicants are asked to investigate individual funding opportunities for their travel and accommodation. Further details of the application process will shortly be available under the 2012 application tab.