This renewal submission for an institutional training grant is aimed at providing research training for postdoctoral trainees who will pursue careers related to critical care. The training program will be jointly based in the Emory Critical Care Center and in the Department of Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine. It will be multidisciplinary in nature, with faculty in the Departments of Surgery, Medicine, Pediatrics, Biomedical Informatics, Anesthesiology, Biochemistry and Biomedical Engineering participating in the training program. The training program is two years of length, and all applicants must have a graduate level degree (MD, PhD or equivalent). We propose to train a total of 17 trainees over the 5 year period. The goal of this training program is to provide cutting-edge training in critical care research founded upon strong collaborations among clinicians and investigators. The program director/principal investigator is Craig Coopersmith, Professor of Surgery at Emory University and the Associate Director of the Emory Critical Care Center. The PI/PD will interface closely with an executive committee made up of Timothy Buchman, MD, PhD (Professor of Surgery, Director Emory Critical Care Center) and Greg Martin, MD (Professor of Medicine, Director of Research, Emory Critical Care Center). The program has 13 additional mentors with widely varying research interests in domains related to critical care ranging from oxidative stress to metabolomics of ARDS to implementation science in the intensive care unit. The program allows trainees to choose either a traditional laboratory-based track or a clinical track where they will also obtain a Master of Science in Clinical Research. There are opportunities that span the entire age range of critical illness - from neonates to geriatrics. To provide a diverse set of opportunities, mentors are based at the following types of hospitals in the Atlanta area - academic (Emory University Hospital), public/safety-net (Grady Memorial Hospital), community (Emory University Hospital Midtown), federally-funded (Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center), and pediatrics (Children's Hospital of Atlanta at Egleston). Ultimately, the research training program is designed to reflect the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of clinical critical care and to develop independent researchers dedicated to improving the outcomes of patients in the intensive care unit.
As the population ages, more and more patients are cared for in intensive care units. However, there is a growing gap between the rapidly expanding need for critical care services and both the workforce needed to take care of critically ill patients and the researchers needed to discover new insights to improve outcomes in the intensive care unit. This institutional training grant is aimed at bridging this gap by providing research training for individuals who will pursue careers related to critical care.
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