This competitive renewal application requesting support for the Comprehensive Research Training Program in Rheumatic Disease Research at UAB builds on established research areas and incorporates new areas of programmatic emphasis designed to leverage current activities and to address the needs of and opportunities for the current generation of trainees. This program centers on interdisciplinary fundamental and clinical research in arthritis and musculoskeletal diseases. The UAB Training Program has been enhanced by the formation of collaborative groups and by selective recruitment in the areas of basic research in immunology and inflammation, immunogenetics, neurobehavioral research and clinical research. This research base has been coordinated through the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Center and consolidated by several key grants, including the SCOR in SLE, CERTs, GCRC, and NAAP. The Clinical Research Training Program provides clinical investigators with the intellectual and administrative skills essential for the design and execution of informative clinical studies and trials, together with a background in state of the art basic science knowledge. Programmatically, an effective interdisciplinary research experience is implemented by incorporation of required course work into individual research plans formulated by the mentor and trainee and by an interdisciplinary enrichment program, both developed in conjunction with Dr. Kimberly and the Executive Committee. To provide over sight of this interdisciplinary program, a series of benchmarks for progress will formulated for each trainee and mentor and will be reviewed by the Program Director and Executive Committee on a semi annual basis. The overall performance of the Program and its direction will be evaluated annually by the Training Program Advisory Committee and by the Extramural Advisory Committees of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Center. The performance of the 26 trainees supported in the past 10 years is described, and all trainees completing training since 1996 are said to continue to pursue research in industry and academia. Funding is requested for three predoctoral and six postdoctoral trainees.
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