The University of Chicago has a strong and longstanding tradition of conducting innovative interdisciplinary research in basic, clinical, and social sciences, and inspiring and training physician-scientists to perform such research has always been a key mission. The Pritzker School of Medicine sponsors a research training program for medical students during the summer between their first and second years of medical school that is an integral part of our approach to realizing this mission, serving as a formal mechanism to introduce medical students to basic, clinical, and social science research and to the possibility of pursuing a research career in academic medicine. The purpose of this application is to request support to establish a new Short- Term Aging-related Research (STAR) T-35 program to provide summer training in basic, clinical, and social science research for Pritzker medical students to inspire and to begin to prepare them to purse careers in aging research. Building on the established processes of the successful Pritzker School of Medicine Summer Research Program, the program will admit nine T-35 sponsored students each year with an additional nine supported by the Pritzker School of Medicine. A cadre of institutionally and nationally prominent principal investigators in basic, clinical, and social science relevant to aging will mentor individual trainees. In addition, trainees will take part in didactic instruction in responsible conduct of research, statistics, clinical geriatrics and an innovative course called Translational Research in Aging which will expose them to concepts in biology, clinical geriatrics, and the social sciences that are central to the study of aging. The proposed STAR program is aligned with the research objectives of the NRSA T-35 by linking medical students with cutting edge, aging-related researchers with basic, clinical, and social science foci. Through course instruction and experiential learning, STAR graduates will have a mastery of the conduct of research within the context of aging. Through our evaluation and tracking mechanism, we will be able to determine if participants show a greater propensity to continue pursuing research as a career. Given the aging of the population, it is imperative that a new cadre of investigators is prepared to conduct research aimed at understanding and improving the health of older persons. Through the STAR Program, we will address this need by preparing and inspiring the next generation of physicians to enter academic research careers in aging.
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