The University of Florida's Medical Science Training Program (MSRP) solidified 20 years ago with the funding of the Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grant (T35-HL07489). The original objectives of this MSRP were to provide medical students a high quality research experience with a qualified faculty mentor that would stimulate their future interest in research and lead them to consider a career in academic medicine. During the past five years of T35 funding, the MSRP has expanded to encompass a broader audience that includes professional students from the five other Colleges within the University of Florida Health Science Center. Regardless of the College in which students are enrolled, the overall objectives have remained the same. The current proposal represents the revised competitive renewal application of T35-HL07489. We are requesting funds to support research experiences of 2.5 months for 20 highly qualified professional students per year for five years. This represents a reduction from the current level of support, consistent with us targeting the MSRP at medical, pharmacy and veterinary medicine students. Each student who is selected for this program by the MSRP committee will participate in an outstanding program of study. A typical individual program of study will include performance of a research project within a faculty member's laboratory with chose supervision by that faculty member and other participating faculty. The goal will be to guide the students in the construction of research protocols, in state-of-the-art biomedical techniques, and in the organization, critical evaluation, and presentation of their data. Students are also required to take a course in fundamentals of biomedical research and biomedical ethics. Faculty mentors will generally be drawn from the list of participating faculty, but other qualified health center faculty will be considered as mentors for students. Lastly, basic, clinical, epidemiological, ethical, and educational research projects are all considered appropriate as long as they are hypothesis-driven and serious research endeavors. It is anticipated that funding of this T35 proposal will continue to enhance the already strong MSRP at the University of Florida Health Science Center.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 48 publications
