(Candidate?s Abstract) Although the United States has some of the best medical schools, residencies and fellowships in the world, this medical training is focused on delivering excellent care to patients, rather than developing the research skills necessary to carry out effective clinical investigation. In order for young academic faculty members to take the next step towards becoming independent clinical investigators, further training to obtain these necessary skills is required. The candidate and his mentor, Dr. Louise Ryan, Professor of Biostatists, propose to accomplish this in the following manner: 1) Didactic courses will be taken at the Harvard School of Public Health in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics toward a Masters in Public Health. 2) The candidate will analyze ocular trauma patient data and publish clinical studies in conjunction with Dr. David Hemenway, Director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. 3) The candidate will attend weekly clinical research conferences at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. 4) The candidate will participate in the NIH-sponsored Submacular Surgery Trials under the direction of the study chairman, Dr. Nell Bressler. And finally, 5) these clinical research skills will be directly applied towards designing, organizing and obtaining funding for a randomized , prospective multi-center clinical trail entitled, """"""""Prophylatic Scleral Buckle Placement in Posterior Open-globe Injuries."""""""" During this final phase, the candidate will work closely with Dr. Evangelos gregoudas, Director of the Retina Service and the Retina research Institute at the Massachusetts Eye 7 Ear Infirmary. The candidate?s long term goal is to obtain independent funding for clinical research studies in the area of ocular trauma and will make a significant contribution to the field of Ophthalmology. The K-23 grant will thus help provide the candidate with a crucial first step towards becoming an inde3pendent clinical researcher and an expert in the field of ocular trauma.
