This multifaceted S/T research training program (MSRP) now in year 32 at The University of Arizona (UA) introduces, trains and nurtures diverse inquiring medical students in health-related biomedical research; and further, stimulates subsequent intensive and extensive research experiences. Building on the high level of student/faculty participation and esprit-de-corps already generated and the outstanding record of trainee productivity (presentations, publications, awards, and advanced research), 26-39 medical students annually will engage in full-time summer/vacation 2-3 month laboratory/clinical investigations with an NHLBI emphasis, fully integrated into an innovative Curriculum on Medical Ignorance. CMI features an intensive Summer Institute (SIMI) and wide variety of year-round enrichment activities open to all students (seminars/ workshops, clinical correlations, Failure/Pondering Rounds, journal clubs, skill practice, Visiting Professorships, career advising, and advanced extracurricular research through a popular student-initiated Research Distinction Track). An expanding interactive online Translating Translation presence, featured on our unique Virtual Clinical Research Center/Questionarium web-based platform/ grid, focuses on examples, scenarios, and steps in the translation process.
CMI aims to foster attitudes and skills to recognize and deal with the vast shifting world of medical ignorance [what we know we don't know (current research), don't know we don't know (future discovery), and think we know but don't (error)] from molecular to clinical medicine. Questioning, critical thinking, team-building, role-modeling, and leadership skills are specifically cultivated to forge a mentoring chain reaction at the local, national, and international level and throughout a diverse NIH-funded research pipeline continuum. Overseen by an experienced multidisciplinary administrative team and paralleling UA's expanding research strengths, MSRP students choose from a spectrum of in vivo, in vitro, in situ, in silico, and modeling approaches to the cardiovascular (CV) system and its disorders (cardiac contractility, development, hypertrophy, microcirculatory physiology, endothelial biology, electrophysiology, oxygenation, heart failure, resuscitation, CV genomics/proteomics, CV prosthetics, arterial/venous disease, lymphology); pulmonology (asthma, cystic fibrosis, sleep apnea, organogenesis); and cell-based science/therapy; with cross-cutting themes in bioengineering/multimodal imaging; drug/device discovery R&D; and various other topics of specific interest to student researchers and spanning translational steps from bench to bedside to clinical practice and population health. Based on a 32-year track record reflected in the latest MSRP followup/survey, we anticipate cultivating an enlarging number of diverse scientific physicians who understand and can contribute to the research enterprise and a growing cadre of physician-scientist leaders to replenish the dwindling supply of translational researchers. Detailed S/T and L/T formative/ summative program/participant evaluation, including database registry, individual development plans, and career portfolios, will be continued to document efficacy.
Based on a 32-year track record, reflected in our latest Medical Student Research Program followup, we anticipate cultivating a large number of diverse inquiring scientific physicians who understand and can contribute to the research enterprise (emphasizing cardiovascular, lung, and blood disorders and therapy), including a growing cadre of physician-scientist leaders to replenish the dwindling numbers of translational medical researchers. In this way, we will contribute to the concerted effort of NIH and NHLBI to build the diverse enlightened medical research teams of the future and thereby to expedite the translation of scientific advances from 'bench to bedside to community'.
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