This application represents the essential core of a unique and successful graduate program that emphasizes integrated graduate training and excellence in research along with opportunities for teaching, community outreach and career development. The Johns Hopkins graduate program in Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology and Biophysics (CMDB) has a long history of recruiting and training young scientists. It is funded by a single T32 grant which is currently completing its 40th year. Excellent students are recruited from a pool of outstanding undergraduates. Upon graduation, these students are among the top Ph.D. recipients in the country, winning national and international recognition for their work and moving on to a range of excellent postdoctoral and other opportunities. Many continue on the academic track and populate the faculty of leading colleges and universities, whereas others utilize their training to influence public policy, law, and other important fields. There are two main components to the training philosophy of the CMDB program. The first is a commitment to a broad but integrated training experience. Our training faculty represent a wide range of research interests, from highly quantitative, biophysical studies to modern developmental genetics, with strong molecular and cellular research in between. This diverse group of faculty and students is integrated by shared courses, seminars, retreats and collaboration. Students gain foundational knowledge in all disciplines through core courses and rotations before specializing in their thesis research. The second component of our training philosophy is that training a complete scientist involves more than just excellent training in the laboratory. We strive to train researchers who are also excellent communicators and educators, and support their involvement in the community at the local and national levels. Toward this end, we have expanded our training program to include development of our students' scientific communication and teaching skills, and we encourage students to engage the community through scientific outreach. This is an exciting time for the CMDB graduate program. New faculty hires in the associated departments are further enhancing the connections between the departments, and allowing us to introduce new areas of modern biology and genomics into our training faculty. These new hires will also allow us to significantly expand the number of graduate students that we train, and who are supported by this training grant. The present renewal application describes the gains we have made during the past grant period, and our plans move forward with a philosophy similar to what has already made our program a success - a dedication to a broad, interdisciplinary scientific training, an emphasis on creating scientist who are excellent communicators and educators who are actively engaged in their local communities, and a mission to recruit, nurture and promote excellence in the next generation of biomedical researchers.
This grant supports a unique and successful PhD program that emphasizes integrated graduate training and excellence in research along with opportunities for teaching, community outreach and career development. It will directly contribute to improving human health by training the next generation of biomedical scientists.
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