This application from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is written as a response to RFA OD 98-007. It describes a Clinical Research Curriculum Award (CRCA) which has been designed to provide an in-depth, two-year training program for a group of 8-10 carefully selected young people, each of whom is committed to a career as a clinical investigator. The clinical research methods to be taught include: patient-oriented research; epidemiologic and population-based research; and outcomes-oriented, health services research. The training program will consist of four distinct, separate, but very much complementary components. These include: 1) didactic training, including a core curriculum and additional elective classes that will be chosen from the wide array of course work available in the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Public Health; 2) a newly developed, two-year seminar series that is designed specifically as a supplement to the didactic training for the CRCA trainees; 3) an in-depth clinical research project that is to be designed and carried out by the trainee under the joint supervision of a mentor from a his/her """"""""home"""""""" training unit along with a mentor selected from the CRCA core faculty; and 4) a novel mentoring system in which these two individuals not only assist each trainee with the development and conduct of his/her research project, but also with the coursework and with the establishment of a long-term career plan. Finally, we expect that by the end of the second year in the CRCA Program, most of the trainees (with guidance from their mentor-team) will have written an NIH grant proposal (e.g., a K23, CAP, etc.). Thus, we have created a CRCA Program that has both breadth and depth: breadth from the core curriculum, the seminar series, and close exposure to the faculty members and the other trainees; depth from the specific electives, the individual research project, and the novel mentoring system. We are therefore confident that the CRCA Program, as described in this proposal, fulfills all of the criteria that are described in the RFA. Furthermore, we have no doubt that our CRCA Program, if funded, will greatly enhance the capability of this institution to prepare a substantial number of young people for independent and creative careers in clinical investigation.
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