We are submitting this renewal to continue our long-standing program, Academic Training in Pediatric Pulmonary Diseases, which is based at the University of Colorado. Over the past 25 years, this program has trained post-doctoral fellows in biological and medical sciences for successful academic careers in pulmonary research and teaching. We have provided a multidisciplinary approach to both mentoring and research training that emphasizes the integration of studies at the molecular, cellular, tissue organ, and physiological (whole animals or human subjects) levels to permit rapid bench-to-bedside translation of research. Over the years, our program has primarily emphasized developing clinician-scientists to translate laboratory science with clinical research and care. We have extended our program to include more PhD scientists as faculty and trainees, and have encouraged greater cross-disciplinary interactions among basic and clinician scientists. In this renewal, we now propose to continue to expand our training program to include greater access to expertise in exciting new fields of outcomes research, epidemiology, bioengineering, epigenetics and genomics, regenerative medicine and informatics. We also seek to improve our recruitment of under-represented minority candidates and present a more rigorous mentorship program for both faculty and trainees. This approach will address the growing need to provide novel training strategies to increase opportunities for young scientists to develop successful academic careers in systems biology, team science and outcomes research, along with our more traditional strengths in laboratory investigations. Thus, our overall goal is to provide our fellows with the professional skills to lead sustained and productive academic research careers in pediatric lung diseases. Specific objectives of this program include: 1) to provide trainees wit an intensive research experience in laboratory- , patient- or population-oriented research in pediatric lung diseases by linking promising candidates with outstanding mentors who are rigorously selected based on scientific qualifications and experience in training; 2) to provide trainees with essential research skills and information regarding career development in academic medicine through structured course work, lectures and seminars, which emphasize training in ethics and scientific integrity academic survival skills, specific research tools and exposure to diverse research methodologies; 3) to enhance and teach skills in mentorship to junior faculty through active co-mentoring of trainees with senior faculty with a formal training program. This program continues to include outstanding mentors who, in addition to success in their focused areas of research, are committed to teaching broad research skills, such as performing scholarly reviews of the literature; formulating hypotheses and study design; developing essential skills in statistics, oral and written presentation of scientific findings and grant writing; understanding issues and defining potential problems of scientific integrity and ethics; and others. The program leadership will further ensure close monitoring of trainees' progress through the active use of individualized oversight committees.
Diverse lung diseases of newborns, infants and children, including abnormalities in lung growth and development, asthma, cystic fibrosis, recurrent pneumonias, interstitial lung disease, problems associated with premature birth, lung vascular (blood vessel) diseases, and others, are major causes of death and disability in pediatrics. This program is directed at training individuals to better understand the causes of lung diseases in children with the long-tem goal that these investigators will develop new therapies to decrease or ameliorate the health burden of lung problems.
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