The goal of this program is to provide the postdoctoral training needed for a successful investigative career in Hematology. This training program was begun in 1975 and has provided training to 52 current or past postdoctoral scientists and physicians. Of these, a large proportion are in academic medicine and many continue in clinical or basic science research. During the current funding period, six trainees have been supported. Of four who completed their training, two currently have academic positions and one has accepted a position for the beginning of the next academic year. The program is centered in the Vascular Medicine Unit at the University of Rochester Medical Center but is interdepartmental with faculty from adult and pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, and Pharmacology and Physiology. The program will be directed by Dr. Charles Francis, Chief of the Vascular Medicine Unit, assisted by an Executive Committee comprised of three of the faculty. It will offer an intensive, focused, two or three year training experience in hematology research that will include didactic course work, lectures, informal seminars, a close mentoring relationship with a faculty member and a research project. All trainees will complete a didactic training program provided by the Rochester Clinical Research Curriculum supported by a K30 award that will include principles of scientific writing; issues related to technology transfer, funding and industrial relations; and grant writing skills. Trainees with an M.D. degree may pursue patient- oriented research and additional didactic course work in biostatistics, epidemiology, and outcomes research is available. Either Ph.D. or M.D. trainees may pursue basic research in the laboratory of one of the faculty. Each trainee's program will be approved by the Executive Committee and monitored by the Training Committee. The mentor relationship between faculty and trainee is emphasized, and the faculty are committed to providing necessary support, encouragement, and resources necessary to begin an independent investigative career. Trainee candidates are typically recruited from the Hematology/Oncology fellowship programs and from Ph.D. candidates in the departments of Pathology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, and Pharmacology and Physiology. The University of Rochester Medical Center is a research-intensive institution with a new major commitment to further increasing research and offers an ideal environment for this training program.
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