The Cardiovascular Research Training Program (CRTP) was established at the University of New Mexico upon the funding of this Minority Institutional Research Training (MIRT) Grant fifteen years ago. It has sensed to provide opportunities for underrepresented minority predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees to gain research training in cardiovascular biology. This grant has also been a catalyst for the development of an integrated program of research and training in cardiovascular sciences at the university. The CRTP bridges the basic and clinical sciences and has fostered new productive collaborations between disciplines. This area of research and training emphasis has particular relevance to the state of New Mexico where the incidence of cardiovascular-related disease is high, especially in the Hispanic and Native American populations. During the tenure of the grant, several new programs have evolved that unify research in the cardiovascular sciences at UNM, including the formation ofthe Vascular Physiology Group with researchers from the School of Medicine and the College of Pharmacy. The Vascular Physiology Group represents the core of the training activities for the CRTP, especially for predoctoral trainees. In addition, since the last application, the Health Sciences Center has identified signature research programs including one focused in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease (CVMD). This area of research receives special funds from the Office of Research to support pilot studies and to enhance collaborative projects between its members. All of the mentors on this grant are members of this signature program and the Associate Director of the training grant serves as the leader of the CVMD program. Collaborative research is also facilitated by the structure of the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program that offers a unified training environment within the Health Sciences Center. The graduate program is non-departmental and provides interdisciplinary training over a broad base of biomedical science in the first year, followed by in-depth training in the chosen discipline The goals of the current application are to build upon this framework and to improve our success in recruiting and training minority scientists. To foster this latter objective, we have designed recruitment strategies that seek to improve integration of our program with existing minority-based undergraduate and master's programs at the University of New Mexico and partner institutions in our state. In addition, the proposed training program also includes a postdoctoral component involving both basic science and clinical/translational research.
This training program centers on developing the next generation of scientists interested in discovering the mechanisms underiying cardiovascular disease and establishing potential treatments. This has special relevance to the state of New Mexico where the incidence of cardiovascular-related disease is high, especially in the Hispanic and Native American populations.
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