The Institute of Medicine has identified several obstacles impeding investigators interested in clinical research. The impediment emphasized was a deficit in the training of the clinical scientist. The Institute of Medicine Committee recommended that """"""""post-graduate training programs implement programmatic changes to ensure that residencies and fellowship training programs include on-going exposure to basic elements of patient-oriented research"""""""". This proposal - University of Utah Clinical Research Curriculum - addresses this recommendation. The objective of this application is to develop a comprehensive curriculum for physicians planning academic careers as clinical investigators focused on the inherited basis of human disease. The proposal includes five specific aims: 1) Create a rigorous didactic program that will facilitate the professional development of young clinical investigators; 2) Create a program offering a specific, mentored intensive research experience under the direct supervision of an accomplished clinical investigator; 3) Create a cohesive, integrated program with basic scientists to ensure that trainees are totally conversant with """"""""cutting-edge"""""""" scientific advances; 4) To attract trainees most likely to succeed as independent clinical investigators and to provide them with sufficient time to mature in a collegial environment and; 5) Develop an effective and continuous evaluation of the program, its component parts, and its didactic courses. The proposal takes advantage of the strengths in genetics at the University of Utah. The clinical research projects will utilize the General Clinical Research Center and the laboratory facilities of selected mentors. The didactic portion of the course will cover subjects such as: epidemiology, biostatistics, and experimental design; bioethical issues in research on the inherited basis of human disease; human genetics for clinical investigators; molecular biology for clinical investigators; biochemistry for clinical investigators and; utilization of animal models in the development of clinical research projects.
