The goals of this program are: (1) to provide individuals at the M.D. and Ph.D. level with the skills and training needed to allow them to become competitively funded researchers in the broad area of injury biology; and (2) to support the expanding research effort underway at the University of Cincinnati to understand the host response to injury. Entering our third funding cycle, this training program has been expanded and energized by changes in leadership within the Department of Surgery and the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care Medicine. Several new M.D. and Ph.D. research faculty have been added to both groups, and additional faculty recruitment is planned. The program has and continues to focus on the molecular biology of the response to injury. We solicit applications from residents and fellows within our own programs, and we advertise for both M.D. post-doctoral Ph.D. trainees from outside this University in appropriate journals. The program continues as a partnership with Howard University, and we have sought and accepted individuals from underrepresented minorities from this and other programs. Expansion of the applicant pool is an important goal for this cycle. Individuals chosen to participate in this program select a mentor from within the Department of Surgery. The trainee then typically spends two years working in the laboratory of that individual or in the laboratory of a scientist performing research of interest to the trainee. The individual is not restricted in his/her selection of laboratory theme related to injury, or in its geographic locale. A training program for the individual is developed by collaboration with the mentor(s) and program director, with a particular focus on appropriate course work. The trainee participates in a specific didactic program providing training in grant writing, the responsible conduct of research, research design, novel laboratory methods, and presentation skills. This is in addition to regularity scheduled laboratory, divisional and departmental meetings. We recognize that the two-year training period afforded most trainees will not routinely be sufficient to enable trainees to be fully competitive for NIH funding. We stress and demonstrate by example the important role of partnerships with basic science collaborators as models for joint funding. We see the end product of this training program as a junior faculty member who, in collaboration with appropriate scientists, will have the tools to evolve into an independent scientist. We encourage individuals with demonstrated interest and aptitude to continue for a third year and obtain an advanced degree (Ph.D. or D.Sc.). We have demonstrated that the trainees participating in this program have a high likelihood of success in becoming university-based researchers.
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