This is a new application developed as part of the NIH Roadmap and submitted in response to RFARM- 05-015 Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Programs. This application will provide Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) with the funds necessary to promote clinical research training among predoctoral students in several fields: medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy, audiology, social work, and biomedical engineering. Our long-term objective is to utilize this funding to promote the career development of nascent health-care professionals who will become outstanding patient-oriented researchers. The overall goal of this proposal is to enhance interdisciplinary training in patient-oriented research.
The Specific Aims of this proposal are: (1) to provide predoctoral students educational courses that teach the fundamentals of clinical research; (2) to provide positive hands-on clinical research experiences; and (3) to stimulate interest in clinical research and to increase the number and quality of medical students and other health-care professionals in clinical research training. We shall achieve these aims by a tripartite approach: identifying talented predoctoral students; providing them with existing and new coursework focusing on clinical research design, biostatistics, ethical and legal aspects of clinical research, and scientific writing; and immersing them in clinical research. To take advantage of existing didactic capabilities, we have coordinated the course work with a newly funded K30 Program. We will offer 24 training slots per year: a dozen two-month summer research experiences, and a dozen 12-month immersion programs leading to a MA degree. The innovative program proposes to emphasize interdisciplinary team building, in part, by promoting a collaborative research model whereby clinical research trainees pair with another trainee (as well as at least one mentor) for their practicum research program. WUSM offers a number of unique research training opportunities that make it an ideal location for training patient-oriented researchers. To foster interdisciplinary, cross-departmental clinical research, Washington University has committed millions of dollars to a new Division of Clinical Sciences. The proposed T32 Program along with our new K30 Program, in conjunction with this supportive institutional environment and outstanding research faculty, will allow us to train the next generation of outstanding patient-oriented researchers. The recent success of our K30 application and the addition of the proposed T32 funding will catalyze WUSM's increasing development of outstanding patient-oriented research. ? ? ?
