About the Sustainable Sciences Institute

SSI believes that by building local scientific capacity and human resources, one can help control and prevent infectious diseases and improve public health infrastructure and the health status of the population. Through education, training, and support of locally relevant scientific projects, SSI seeks to leverage the resources of the developed world to enhance the capacity and encourage the ingenuity of researchers in the developing world. By building local health research capacity, developing country researchers are empowered to reduce the burden of poverty and disease in their communities. SSI currently operates throughout Latin America, Egypt, and Ethiopia and is exploring opportunities to expand its outreach to Asia and more of Africa.  As of 2007, SSI and its precursor, AMB/ATT, have conducted 50 workshops and trained more than 1200 researchers from 20 different countries in various state- of-the-art techniques for cost-effective diagnosis and epidemiological analysis of relevant infectious diseases, as well as in grant preparation and manuscript writing. Another 1500 scientists have attended seminars and conferences during the workshops. SSI’s scientific capacity-building program has a four-pronged approach: workshops, material aid, small grants, and networking.

SSI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that assists developing-country public health professionals by supplying the training, funding, equipment, supplies, networking, and technical advice that they need. It also manages several scientific and public health programs in Nicaragua and Egypt. SSI is a medium-size non-profit organization, with a staff of six in the San Francisco office; a subsidiary in Managua, Nicaragua, with 25 employees and another in Cairo, Egypt; a highly active Board of Directors (with 11 members); and a prestigious Advisory Council. SSI also operates with the assistance of many organizational volunteers and more than 100 active scientific volunteers.

SSI is recognized as a leader in developing scientific research capacity. Our work has been recognized as a model for technology transfer programs to the global South by the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, the Organization of American States, the National Sciences Foundation, and the (US) National Academy of Sciences, as well as by health officials in many developing countries.