The Kidney Research Training Program at the University of Michigan (UM) has been in existence for 36 years and continues to meet its primary goal of preparing postdoctoral trainees for careers in adult and pediatric academic nephrology. The rationale for training in kidney disease research is manifold: (1) kidney disease is very common, affecting ~15% of the population and the prevalence is continuing to increase; (2) the mechanisms of CKD progression are complex, gradual and remain incompletely understood; (3) reliable diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers of CKDs have not been developed; (4) there have been no signficant remittive or preventative treatments developed for either CKD or acute kidney injury (AKI) in the last 20 years; (5) current effective preventative and treatment strategies are haphazardly administered and are not uniformly applied in the majority of susceptible individuals; (6) health disparities in our current health delivery system divert appropriate care from the populations most at risk. Thus, there is a major need to move observations found in the laboratory through T1-3 translational studies to discover and test new targets for biomarkers and treatments of CKDs and AKI. In addition, there is special need to translate best practices into better outcomes via T4 research. Research training themes of the program are based both on the critical need to place well-trained investigators in all areas along the translational spectrum of kidney disease research and on the investigative interest and expertise of our well-established and extramurally-funded faculty members. Trainees will be inculcated with the long-term goal of establishing an academic career in kidney disease research along the translational spectrum. In this regard they will be paired with an appropriate primary mentor, as well as a career mentoring team. Trainees selected for this program will spend 2-3 years in the relevant research environment and will develop skills in: (1) utilizing state-of-the-art hypothesis generating platforms; (2) identifying testable hypotheses tha address important questions in kidney disease research; (3) aquiring the necessary technical expertise to address their hypotheses; (4) learning modern techniques of large data management and assessment; (5) expertly evaluating datasets; and (6) developing the necessary skills of written and oral communication to promote their conclusions. The majority of trainees will have an MD degree or MD/PhD degrees, 3 years of house officer training in Internal Medicine or Pediatrics and a year of clinical subspecialty training in adult or pediatric nephrology. Trainees focused on basic (T0-T1) research with limited prior research experience will participate in an intensive 3 month postdoctoral research training program in the medical school. Trainees focused on more translational or health services research (T1-4) will often pursue a Masters' Program in Clinical Research Design and Statistics through the UM School of Public Health. The ultimate goal of the program is to prepare trainees for careers in academic kidney disease research as faculty members of schools of medicine and public health at top research universities in the United States.
The goal of the Kidney Disease Research Training Program is to teach MD or MD/PhD kidney specialists-in- training the skills necessary to pursue careers in kidney disease research so that they can contribute to the development of advances in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic kidney diseases, acute kidney injury and chronic kidney failure.
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