PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Soni, Apurv AU - Fahey, Nisha AU - Jaffe, Abraham AU - Raithatha, Shyamsundar AU - Raithatha, Nitin AU - Prabhakaran, Anusha AU - Moore Simas, Tiffany A AU - Byatt, Nancy AU - Vankar, Jagdish AU - Chin, Michael AU - Phatak, Ajay G AU - Srivastava, Shirish AU - McManus, David D AU - O'Keefe, Eileen AU - Patel, Harshil AU - Patel, Niket AU - Patel, Dharti AU - Tracey, Michaela AU - Khubchandani, Jasmine A AU - Newman, Haley AU - Earon, Allison AU - Rosenfield, Hannah AU - Handorf, Anna AU - Novak, Brittany AU - Bostrom, John AU - Deb, Anindita AU - Desai, Soaham AU - Patel, Dipen AU - Nimbalkar, Archana AU - Talati, Kandarp AU - Rosal, Milagros AU - McQuilkin, Patricia AU - Pandya, Himanshu AU - Santry, Heena P AU - Thanvi, Sunil AU - Kharod, Utpala AU - Fischer, Melissa AU - Allison, Jeroan AU - Nimbalkar, Somashekhar M TI - RAHI–SATHI Indo-U.S. Collaboration: The Evolution of a Trainee-Led Twinning Model in Global Health Into a Multidisciplinary Collaborative Program AID - 10.9745/GHSP-D-16-00190 DP - 2017 Mar 24 TA - Global Health: Science and Practice PG - 152--163 VI - 5 IP - 1 4099 - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/5/1/152.short 4100 - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/5/1/152.full SO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT2017 Mar 24; 5 AB - RAHI–SATHI presents an innovative twinning model of global health academic partnership, resulting in a number of successful research activities, that features trainees or students as the driving force, complemented by strategic institutional support from both sides of the partnership. Others can promote similar student-led initiatives by: (1) accepting an expanded role for trainees in global health programs, (2) creating structured research and program opportunities for trainees, (3) developing a network of faculty and trainees interested in global health, (4) sharing extramural global health funding opportunities with faculty and trainees, and (5) offering seed funding.Background: In recent years there has been a surge in the number of global health programs operated by academic institutions. However, most of the existing programs describe partnerships that are primarily faculty-driven and supported by extramural funding.Program Description: Research and Advocacy for Health in India (RAHI, or “pathfinder” in Hindi) and Support and Action Towards Health-Equity in India (SATHI, or “partnership” in Hindi) are 2 interconnected, collaborative efforts between the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and Charutar Arogya Mandal (CAM), a medical college and a tertiary care center in rural western India. The RAHI–SATHI program is the culmination of a series of student/trainee-led research and capacity strengthening initiatives that received institutional support in the form of faculty mentorship and seed funding. RAHI–SATHI's trainee-led twinning approach overcomes traditional barriers faced by global health programs. Trainees help mitigate geographical barriers by acting as a bridge between members from different institutions, garner cultural insight through their ability to immerse themselves in a community, and overcome expertise limitations through pre-planned structured mentorship from faculty of both institutions. Trainees play a central role in cultivating trust among the team members and, in the process, they acquire personal leadership skills that may benefit them in their future careers.Conclusion: This paradigm of trainee-led twinning partnership promotes sustainability in an uncertain funding climate and provides a roadmap for conducting foundational work that is essential for the development of a broad, university-wide global health program.