A decline in the number of physician scientists in the United States, including a marked decrease in surgical scientists, correlates with the NIH Roadmap's concern about the lack of well-trained individuals with the capacity to translate research from bench to bedside. It has been demonstrated that the integration of a two-year research experience into general surgery residency increases the likelihood that surgeons will pursue academic careers, and utilizing this model, the University of Wisconsin (UW) Surgical Oncology Research Training Program has supported thirteen trainees in a mentored research and training experience. To date, four of those trainees have completed their research and clinical training and all four of them (100%) have obtained academic positions at leading medical institutions in the United States. The nine other trainees who have completed the research portion of their training are completing their clinical training as residents or fellows and we anticipate all or virtually all of them will pursue academic careers in fields related to surgical oncology following completion of their training. Therefore, this application requests continued funding for an additional five years for this successful training program. The specific objectives of this program are: 1) through a two-year post-doctoral research training experience for selected surgical residents, provide training in the conduct of basic, translational, health services and clinical surgical oncology hypothesis-based research through participation in an individual and tailored didactic and mentoring program utilizing the extensive resources of the UW Department of Surgery, UW Carbone Cancer Center (UWCCC), the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health's Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, 2) integrate surgical oncology research into a general surgery residency program and equip each trainee with appropriate supplemental didactic experiences in basic, translational, and clinical research, 3) encourage biomedical engineering graduate students to pursue academic research careers in the field of surgical oncology by providing two to four year pre-doctoral surgical oncology-focused research training with co-mentoring from a biomedical engineer trainer and a surgical oncology trainer, 4) develop physician-scientists and academic leaders in the field of surgery with a focus on oncology-related research, 5) expand the pool of surgeon- scientists with comprehensive training in health services research. The application includes a pool of experienced, extramurally funded trainers from a variety of surgical oncology-related disciplines including surgery, oncology, population health, and biomedical engineering;and incorporates effective assessment processes, a plan to promote diversity by recruiting and retaining both women and minorities, and a comprehensive plan for training in the responsible conduct of research. UW offers an excellent environment for the continued success of the program.
A decline in the number of physician scientists will impact our Nation's capacity to translate research from bench to bedside. It has been demonstrated that the integration of a two-year research experience into general surgery residency increases the likelihood that surgeons will pursue academic careers, and utilizing this model, the University of Wisconsin (UW) Surgical Oncology Research Training Program is training general surgery residents to pursue academic surgery careers with a focus on research.
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