A decreasing number of physicians are selecting careers in academic investigation. This proposal outlines a new postdoctoral career development program to aid in reversing this trend. This Reproductive Scientific Training Program (RSTP) for residents and postdoctoral fellows is being developed to train obstetrician-gynecologists in basic science research and to help prepare them for careers in academic medicine. PhD and MD scientists with broad-based research experience will serve as the core faculty. This program will be administered by an ad hoc Advisory Committee consisting of appointees from the following organizations: the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, in conjunction with the NlCHD and the March of Dimes-Birth Defects Foundation. The goal of this program is to ensure that academic obstetrics and gynecology fulfills its mission to increase research and understanding in the reproductive sciences. To this end, outstanding individuals, upon completion of their residency or after a year of clinical fellowship, would receive two years of basic research training. This laboratory, identified as providing an outstanding environment for basic research training, would be selected by the candidate with advice and approval of the committee. The trainees will not be assigned clinical duties during this period of the program. Following the two years of basic research, the trainee will spend three years as a junior faculty member in a department of obstetrics and gynecology with at least 75% time free for research under an identified preceptor. This later period will be funded by the sponsoring institution. It is anticipated that upon the completion of this training program, the candidate would enter a productive investigative career, and would continue to devote a majority of his/her time to research. In such a position one should be competitive for starter research grants. This program may serve as a model to train increased numbers of obstrician/gynecologist-investigators.
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