The proposed T32 training program provides image guided therapy (IGT) training. It is a logical extension of our National Center for Image Guided Therapy (NCIGT: P41 EB 015898) program at the Brigham and Women?s Hospital. This is a unique environment-namely the advanced multi-modal image-guided operating rooms (AMIGO)-where the infrastructure and expertise co-exist to provide training in IGT from basic biology and pathology, to translational studies and Phase 2 clinical trials. All our AMIGO clinical programs provide state of the art care for patients, supplemented with imaging and cutting-edge research opportunities. All the teams currently working in AMIGO are multidisciplinary (MDs & PhDs). Our training program represents a unique approach to IGT. There are no other genuinely multidisciplinary, training structures available elsewhere to learn techniques and clinical applications in an advanced multimodality interventional/intraoperative setting. One of the critical issues of advancing the field of IGT is the lack of specially trained investigators who can respond to both the medical and technological needs of progress. The significance of this program is that it provides both the technological and clinical fundamentals for both MD and PhD trainees. The training includes the relevant concepts, methods, technologies and treatments that are necessary to advance this field and provide fully trained investigators for future IGT- related applications. This training program will therefore provide an opportunity for physicians and scientists who wish to train with the complex advanced technology that can diagnose, localize, and treat many types of diseases. Through multidisciplinary collaboration, our training program will expand the pool of experts of new diagnostic and treatment modalities. We will implement a dynamic, personalized thematic-based training curriculum that will be updated as breakthrough technologies are discovered and brought to clinical translation. Our goal is for each IGT-trainee to follow a thematic personalized program that best matches their prior training and experience with their future career goals. As this training program is aimed at precision diagnostics and therapy through IGT applications, the candidate pool will be post-doctorates-MDs and PhDs who are highly motivated to learn advanced IGT technologies and innovative new clinical applications, who will be hired for 1 year, with a possible extension to 2 years. Over the course of the training, fellows are exposed to both specialized and didactic curriculum, while concentrating on a research project in their own thematic area of interest within the field of IGT. Required program coursework will include understanding the science of biomarkers, a wide variety of IGT-related training activities such as a comprehensive, clinically-relevant review and hands-on experience with the available and emerging technologies, participation in cutting-edge research projects, strategies for successful grant writing and effective communication of research. The intended outcome is that trainees will be future academic leaders in the technological developments and implementation of IGT-related diagnostics and interventions.
The proposed T32 training program will provide individual training in image guided therapy, and is logical extension of our National Center for Image Guided Therapy (NCIGT P41 EB 015898) program at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. The Advanced Multimodal Image-Guided Operating (AMIGO) suite is the clinical translational test-bed for research in NCIGT, and represents and encourages multidisciplinary cooperation and collaboration among teams of surgeons, interventional radiologists, imaging physicists, computer scientists, biomedical engineers, nurses and technologists to reach the common goal of delivering the safest and the most effective state-of-the-art therapy to patients in a technologically advanced and patient- friendly environment. Training will include - Individualized programs along with required program coursework including understanding the science of biomarkers, a wide variety of IGT-related training activities, participation in cutting-edge research projects, strategies for successful grant writing and effective communication of research.
