This proposal will support a new, centralized and integrated, rigorous, structured two-year program of graduate training in patient-oriented translational investigation at the University of California, Los Angeles, and affiliated institutions, building on the strengths of our research initiatives. The Graduate Training Program in Translational Investigation (UCLA GTPTI) is a cohesive and cross-disciplinary program that grows from a rich history of collaborative research and training efforts of the UCLA Schools of Medicine, Public Health, Dentistry, Nursing, the UCLA College of Letters and Science, the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, the RAND Graduate School, and from the federally-funded GCRCs at UCLA, Harbor-UCLA, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Martin Luther King-Drew Medical Center. Participants will be recruited from existing training grants, specialty training programs, and junior faculty. An admissions committee will select 20 highly qualified candidates for admission in the first year. There is a core of knowledge and skills common to all areas of clinical research that will form the foundation of the program. This new core curriculum will lead to a Certificate in Clinical Research to those completing 24 credits, or to a Masters in Clinical Research to those completing 48 credits and a dissertation paper. The curriculum will consist of a newly integrated combination of two existing successful clinical research training initiatives and three new curricular elements. This initial curriculum will be evaluated after each year and further developed to meet the needs of the trainees. This program aims to prepare highly qualified patient-oriented investigators who can rigorously, responsibly, and ethically (I) use the tools of contemporary biology to translate to the clinical research arena novel developments in bench research, (2) use existing data to generate testable hypotheses in a clinical setting, (3) obtain peer-reviewed funding to support such investigation and (4) publish the results of their studies in high-quality journals. To achieve these aims this program will provide in-depth instruction in the following areas: (I) ethics in clinical investigation, (2) research methods and research design, including clinical trials, compliance reviews, measuring outcomes, and biostatistics with emphasis on data collection and analysis in clinical trials/epidemiologic surveys and epidemiology, (3) research funding, (4) clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenetics, (5) key topics in translational investigation, (6) research in ethnic minorities, (7) regulatory issues, (8) scientific writing and publishing and (9) mentoring. An important component of the program is a structured outcome assessment that will permit the program to assess its effectiveness and to adjust to the training and career needs of individual trainees. Trainees will attend all components of the structured didactic program and will be able to further access these through the Internet. Participants will work with one GTPTI advisor, other than their research advisor, who will advise and support them throughout the program. The GTPTI will give emphasis to minority populations, by both actively recruiting minority clinicians to our program, and by offering specific training on the conduct of research in ethnic minorities. Southern California is the most ethnically diverse area of the country. The GTPTI will be directed by Dr. Julio Licinio, a leading Hispanic physician- investigator, who is founding editor of two Nature Publishing Group journals, Molecular Psychiatry and The Pharmacogenomics Journal, and will incorporate the minority trainees of the Charles Drew School of Medicine and Science.
