The Washington University School of Medicine Training Program in Principles of Pulmonary Research provides predoctoral and postdoctoral research training in the disciplines of respiratory cell and molecular biology, genetics, immunology, microbiology, pathology, physiology, pharmacology, and radiology. The Program emphasizes scientific approaches critical to understanding mechanisms of lung disease with components of fundamental, translational, and clinical research. A principal goal of the postdoctoral portion of the Training Program is to enable physicians who are completing their clinical training in pulmonary and critical care medicine to then learn how to perform state-of-the-art scientific research. In addition, predoctoral trainees in the M.D./Ph.D. and Ph.D. programs in the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences are a vital component of the Program.
The aim of the Program is to promote the scientific growth and maturity of trainees so they may enter academic pulmonary medicine with the skills needed to study problems relevant to understanding respiratory diseases. The core and support training faculty consists of 43 full-time members of the Departments of Biostatistics, Cell Biology/Physiology, Genetics, Internal Medicine, Molecular Biology/Pharmacology, Molecular Microbiology, Pathology/Immunology, Pediatrics, Radiology, and/or Surgery. Current research projects span the gamut of respiratory science. The nature of the faculty and the scientific projects ensures a well-organized, multidisciplinary interface of pulmonary researchers with basic scientists. The program is designed to provide trainees with an intensive laboratory or clinical research experience supplemented by graduate coursework, seminars, research conferences, and scientific journal clubs. In the laboratory, trainees will utilize cutting-edge approaches relevant to their particular investigative area. Basic science courses, seminars and journal clubs will be used to build skills in evaluating scientific literature, identifying important questions, designing experimental approaches, and organizing, analyzing, and presenting scientific data. Each trainee is under the supervision of a mentor and other supervisory experts as needed for the specific project. In addition, trainee progress is monitored by the Program Director and Scientific Advisory Committees. These mechanisms serve to ensure adequate trainee experiences in research techniques, lecture presentation, manuscript preparation, and grant application.
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