This proposal seeks continued support for the Yale Training in Pediatric Endocrinology/Diabetes Research Program. The application seeks an increase in the current level of funding (from 2 to 3 post-doctoral stipends per year).The request is based on the track record of our training program and mentors;extension of the program to include all areas of endocrine research;the quality and diversity of our clinical, basic and translational research programs;the extended period of training that is required for some of our trainees to obtain a PhD degree and the continuing dire shortage of physician-scientists in pediatric endocrinology and diabetes research. Yale has an impressive array of resources that support this program, including the DERC, the Yale Child Health Research Center, the Magnetic Resonance Research Center, the JDRF Center for the Study of Hypoglycemia, the Yale Core Center for Muscular Skeletal Diseases, the Center for X-linked Hypophosphatemia, the new program in Human and Translational Immunology and, most recently, the CTSA-supported Yale Center for Clinical Investigation that has transformed the support provided for clinical and translational research at this institution. Many of our training faculty (i.e., Tamborlane, Carpenter, Rivkees, Sherwin, Shulman, Herold and Rothman) have major leadership roles in all of these resources. The Program Directors and training faculty are highly respected and productive investigators with extensive peer-reviewed grant support to fund trainees'projects and they have an outstanding track record in training post-doctoral fellows. Post-doctoral trainees can choose between five major areas of research training including 1) T1DM technology &therapeutics, 2) autoimmunity &(3-cell preservation in T1DM, 3) childhood obesity &T2DM, 4) bone biology &disease and 5) developmental biology. A centerpiece of our educational activities is the Investigative Medicine Program (IMP) that provides a rigorous curriculum of required and elective courses along two pathways, i.e. patient-oriented and disease-oriented. Successful completion of course work and thesis project will allow trainees to receive a Ph.D. that is awarded through the Department of Medicine. IMP courses are available for non Ph.D. candidates. The centerpiece of our minority recruitment efforts is our relationship with the Department of Pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine that offers summer fellowships to their students and residents.
