This grant requests support for travel and expenses of fellows to attend the 2009, 2010, and 2011 Clinical Immunology Society (CIS) School in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases. This grant is requested to help defray costs for U.S. fellow travel and expenses related to attending the School. Additional funding will be solicited from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The next three programs are scheduled to take place during the spring in Boston, Massachusetts. This activity is intended to reach an international target audience consisting of fellows-in-training from America, Europe, and Asia holding either an MD and/or a PhD and within their last years of fellowship training. Ten faculty and twenty-five fellows will be selected to attend each School. The program will be advertised through academic program directors and members of the CIS and the American College of Rheumatology as well as through other major societies with interests in clinical immunology. Advertising emphasis will be given to attract applicants representing minorities. The objective of the School is to enhance the ability of the attendants to diagnose and treat systemic autoimmune diseases;to improve their understanding of immunopathogenic processes as they relate to systemic autoimmune diseases;to familiarize with the importance of scientific discoveries as they translate into clinical practice;to promote ambition among young fellows to pursue academic careers in the study of systemic autoimmune diseases. Lastly, the School is designed to stimulate future collaborations between young investigators in different medical centers and countries, and between young investigators and experienced physician/scientists in the field.
The School in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases will bring together young physicians to discuss the diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatment of systemic autoimmune diseases. Emphasis will be given to new treatments that are under development and future possibilities. This School will enhance knowledge of physicians in the field but will ultimately lead to improved patient care.
