Scholar Program (Plan 1) The Southwestern Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center (SCSCC) will again include as a key component of its grant application a plan (Plan 1) for a Sickle Cell Scholar Program. Its purpose will be to offer comprehensive multidisciplinary training to post-doctoral professionals who desire to excel at a career in investigation, teaching, and patient care involving sickle cell disease. The milieu at UT Southwestern and its affiliated institutions for providing such training is outstanding. For over 15 years the Pediatric Hematology- Oncology Program has been the recipient of a T32 NRSA Institutional Training Grant, and UT Southwestern is also recipient of K30 and K12 institutional clinical research support grants from NIH. Moreover, the University administration has provided major resources to establish a new Department of Clinical Sciences, which offers advanced degrees in patient-oriented research and an expansive curriculum of course work, seminars, and structured mentoring. The Center's basic science research infrastructure, one of the strongest in the country, will support scholars who choose a bench research pathway. During the current (2003 - 2008) grant cycle two Sickle Cell Scholars have been appointed and have excelled in their respective research domains of neurological and renal complications of sickle cell disease. Individuals from all disciplines, whether they are at UT Southwestern or another participating institution in Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida, are eligible as scholars, and an active recruitment effort is planned with particular emphasis on attracting minority scientists to the program. Scholars Selection and Scholar Advisory Committees will continue to identify and nominate candidates and then guide them and monitor their progress. The SCSCC remains well positioned to train tomorrow's leaders in sickle cell research.
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