Type 2 diabetes continues to increase in incidence and prevalence. Despite a growing and robust clinical trial evidence base, the majority of patients do not meet all evidence-based goals of care. This ?Second Translational Block? between clinical evidence and clinical practice is a major contributor to avoidable morbidity and mortality in diabetes. The overarching goal of this T32 Diabetes Translational Research training program is to prepare motivated and outstanding post-doctoral MD and PhD researchers with the necessary skills to translate evidence into practice for patients with type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes. We will recruit one post-doctoral trainee each year for a 2-year training experience, thus supporting 2 trainees per year after the first year. The training program will be based at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research and will be conducted in collaboration with research faculty from the UCSF School of Medicine and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Co-directed by Dr. Richard Grant MD MPH and Dr. Julie Schmittdiel PhD, this T32 program includes 16 primary research faculty mentors with $24 million in current research funding and an additional 23 secondary faculty mentors with cross-disciplinary expertise to support trainees. The program provides the opportunity for a mentored research apprenticeship embedded within an integrated care system, advanced coursework in implementation science and statistical research methods from UCSF and UC Berkeley (including the option for an MPH degree), and a coordinated team of research and career mentors to guide trainees towards future academic research careers. We will build on our strong collaborative relationships with health care systems and with our academic partners at UCSF and UC Berkeley. Key elements of the research training include strong mentorship; experiential, small group, and formal course learning; and robust integrated electronic health record data for research.
Despite a strong evidence base to guide care, the majority of patients with type 2 diabetes do not achieve optimal treatment goals. This ?second translational block? from clinical trial evidence into clinical practice represents a major contributor to avoidable morbidity, mortality, and costs. We propose to implement a T32 Diabetes Translational Science training program to help develop the next generation of researchers with the necessary skills to identify and overcome barriers to translating evidence into practice.
