The purpose to this p30 grant application is to hire an outstanding new faculty member to develop a Vascular Imaging Core to be located in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. We will recruit Dr. Gus Cho, an extraordinarily well-trained investigator, from Beth Israel Hospital/Harvard Medical School, as a tenure-track assistant professor. His objective will be to establish an independent research program in the mechanisms of vascular thrombosis and to provide leadership in developing the Vascular Imaging Core. Dr. Cho's time will be protected so that he can devote 75% effort to establishing his research program, obtaining supporting data for grant submission, and setting up collaborations with individuals associated with the Core facility. Technical support will be provided to assist him in the Core development and post-doctoral and PhD student support will provided to assist in the development of his research program. Dr. Cho will have available to him, as collaborators and Core users, an outstanding group of vascular biologists, all of whom having their own robust research programs and extramural funding. In addition, his salary and start-up resources will continue to be supported by the institution beyond the first two years of support provided by p30 funding. A Faculty Advisory Committee comprising three senior faculty members and the department head will be set up to mentor Dr. Cho in the initial, formative career development period. Career development benchmarks and support structure programs will be established for Dr. Cho to ensure his successful transition to independent investigator status and his readiness for promotion in the 6th year of his appointment. The Vascular Imaging Core will serve as the fundamental focal point to coalesce the group of vascular biologists whose research focuses on the inter-related and inter-dependent areas of thrombosis, mechanisms of inflammation and vascular injury, and endothelial cell signaling. The interactions fostered by the Core coupled with the recruitment of an outstanding new investigator will enable us to function as a community of vascular biologists dedicated to addressing some key questions in vascular disease and to seek new therapies.
The hiring of Dr Cho, as an assistant professor, will provide the vascular biology researchers at UIC with an investigator with experience in studying molecular mechanisms of in vivo vascular thrombosis and injury. This will help in the development and allow for the in vivo testing of new agents to prevent and treat vascular diseases. His hiring as an independent investigator and Vascular Core leader will spur the development of a vascular biology research structure at the institution.
