The current training program brings together twenty faculty members from a total of nine Departments on campus to focus on two areas of broad importance for hematology and human disease: vascular biology and stem cell biology/hematologic malignancy. The primary goal of this grant is to train a mixture of M.D. and Ph.D. scientists with outstanding potential to develop a sustained, independent research program in these fields. Two predoctoral positions are requested to take advantage of the outstanding pool of M.D.- Ph.D. candidates and the long tradition of strong graduate programs at the University of Wisconsin. Fellows or residents in the Clinical Investigator track from the participating clinical Departments (Medicine, Pediatrics, Pathology, and Surgery) and Ph.D. trainees from the participating basic science departments (Anatomy, Biochemistry, Biostatistics, Microbiology, and Pharmacology) will be selected for the four postdoctoral positions. The faculty are a stable and interactive group that clusters in three major interest groups: basic and clinical aspects of hemostasis/inflammation, hematologic malignancies, and human stem cells/bone marrow transplantation. The faculty have broad expertise in both basic science and clinical sciences, including experimental approaches in gene arrays and genomics, transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene expression, protein structural analysis, proteomics, cell biology, hematopoetic and endothelial cell culture, murine animal models, primate and human embryonic stems cells, and bone marrow transplantation. There is a strong emphasis oh providing the multidisciplinary training required to pursue translational research opportunities, and the formal training of clinical investigators. Our training program takes advantage of the Clinical Investigator Preparatory Program (K30 grant) at the University of Wisconsin to provide didactic training in clinical trial design and biostatistics for candidates pursuing translational research projects. The program has an excellent record of retaining trainees in academic medicine. Of our eight predoctoral candidates, six continue in their Ph.D. degree program, and two have completed their degree and obtained excellent post-doctoral positions at outside institutions (Harvard, Mayo). Eleven of our postdoctoral candidates have now completed their research training. Six are successful academic researchers, two are active researchers in biotechnology companies (including a Director of Research), and one is in medical school. We have successfully recruited four under-represented minorities to the grant, and fully half of our appointees are women. The large pool of qualified candidates, outstanding mentorship abilities of our trainers, excellent core facilities, institutional commitment, and broad range of scientific expertise fosters multidisciplinary approaches that will ensure successful careers in science for our trainees.
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