The University of Pennsylvania (UPENN) and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have had an NHLBI- sponsored T32 training grant to support pre- and post-doctoral trainees in the interrelated areas of hemostasis, thrombosis and vascular biology for the past 14 years. These areas have great clinical importance as heart attacks and strokes remain the number one causes of mortality in our industrial society. Many other disorders, including inflammation, autoimmunity, inflammation and cancer are of considerable clinical importance and directly involve the actions of what have classically been considered components of the hemostatic system. Yet, there are insufficient talented trainees to maintain the exciting pace of basic and clinical discovery we are now experiencing in this scientific arena and to address so many unmet clinical needs. Based on our experience, we have developed a unique training program in part because of the research faculty and opportunities on the UPENN/CHOP campus in hemostasis/thrombosis/vascular biology-related research involving 28 NIH-supported investigators. This rich environment, together with what we consider to be a well designed and implemented vision for career development, has allowed this T32 to continue to attract and train talented and productive pre- and postdoctoral trainees. Our program is likely the only program in the country with its particular NHLBI focus. Its strengths include: 1) its large number of mentors with interest in the hemostasis/thrombosis/vascular biology-related aspects of angiogenesis, vascular contractility, cancer spread, biomechanics, gene delivery and embryonic stem cell development, among others. 2) A weekly benign hematology only seminar series that include about 50% speakers with scientific interests closely aligned to the mission of this T32 who meet with our trainees and attend our Super Group Laboratory Meeting to provide their advice into ongoing research on the UPENN/CHOP campus. 2) Provide formal training in translational medicine including didactic training in how to establish academic or pharmaceutical careers. 3) An emphasis on developing laboratory managerial and leadership skills to expand career options, including a structure for self-assessment, career development and bidirectional assessment of interactions with mentors and Program Directors. Thus, we believe that we provide a strong training program with an extraordinarily rich and interactive group of faculty members that provides exciting research opportunities combined with strong didactic and mentoring programs focused on today's and emerging new challenges in hemostasis/ thrombosis/vascular biology as it impacts many clinically relevant disorders. We expect that our T32 will train talented and committed individuals who will make important contributions to these areas of research and who will become national leaders in the field for years to come.
This T32 training grant supports pre- and post-doctoral trainees interested in research in hemostasis, thrombosis, and vascular biology as well as in their impact on related disorders, such as inflammation, cancer and autoimmunity. We believe that this is a unique T32 because of its focus on clinically important diseases and because it is set in an extraordinarily rich scientific environment with an interactive faculty with not only important research skills, buts also as dedication to mentoring. The renewed T32 will continue to provide trainees with excellent research opportunities in the context of broad didactic training in hemostasis/ thrombosis/vascular biology, formal mentoring, and training in career development to help ensure that there is a next generation of scientists interested in our clinically and scientifically important area of investigation.
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