Duke University Medical Center has been engaged in the training of clinicians and scientists in the area of cardiovascular diseases for over 50 years. The philosophy has been to integrate training and research by creating an environment that facilitates the natural linkages among programs and departments throughout the University. By any measure, the program has succeeded in training several generations of outstanding investigators who are now prominent teachers and leaders in academic medicine. Much of this success can be attributed to 39 years of funding of the Cardiovascular Training Program Grant. Our goal is to maintain this history of productivity by creating an environment that will ensure that Duke will continue to contribute to the development of young investigators capable of pursuing successful research careers in cardiovascular fields. Since the last competing renewal, a new Director and Co-Director have assumed leadership. In collaboration with the former Director, the team has implemented a number of substantial enhancements to the educational and research experience of our trainees. Some examples include: 1) a new mentoring program in which all trainees meet semiannually with senior faculty who advise them on their research program and on career pathways, in the manner of a thesis committee; 2) a new External Advisory Committee; 3) close integration between the Training Program and the Duke Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC); 4) a new required Molecular Cardiovascular Biology course; 5) semiannual Individual Development Plans (IDPs) completed by Fellows. These major enhancements were implemented in the context of continued improvements in critical components that have made our training program successful, such as: 1) didactic course work during research fellowship that can lead to a Masters Degree from the School of Medicine; 2) weekly summer seminars devoted to mentoring and to writing grant applications; 3) semiannual written evaluations of (a) Mentors by Fellows and (b) Fellows by Mentors; 4) an annual CVRC Research Symposium, with awards for the best Fellow presentation; and 5) a biweekly CVRC basic science seminar series, featuring outstanding external and Duke cardiovascular faculty (drawn from multiple Schools, Departments, and Institutes, and Centers). The goal of this program is to continue training talented physician-scientists and to build on the Duke environment that will ensure our Fellows develop into highly successful, innovative, independent cardiovascular investigators.
Statement The training of future academic scientists in cardiovascular research recognizes the need to accelerate translation of findings from discovery sciences into clinically useful therapies and strategies. This training program will provide a high-quality mentored research training experience for those future researchers who collectively will make the discoveries of scientists working in basic laboratories available to patients in the form of improved medical care.
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