The scientific strengths of the Virginia CSCC serve as a strong foundation for a robust plan for a prospective sickle cell scholar's recruitment, career development, scientific development, and placement in a career of sickle cell investigation. The pool for recruitment will come from training programs in internal medicine and pediatrics, and fellowship programs in child and adult hematology/oncology. Scholars can attain funding and training for a minimum of two to and a maximum of three years, depending on their level of training and their progress toward productivity in external funding. The career development of the scholar will be the primary responsibility of both the Virginia SCSS PI and one of 5 scientific mentors, a mentoring committee that will meet with the scholar monthly. All mentors have a 10-20 year NIH funding record, and 10 or more trainees each now pursuing research. The clinical development of the scholar will consist of strong and prolonged, guided, inpatient and outpatient exposure to sickle cell disease in either or both pediatric and adult settings, depending on the trainee's clinical background in pediatrics or adult medicine. If the scholar chooses to obtain additional training to qualify him/her to sit for specialty boards in hematology/oncology, that training will be obtained in cooperation with the training program of the scholar's choosing, and could be done prior to or after the scholar's training in sickle cell disease. The clinical development of the scholar will consist of strong and prolonged, guidied, inpatient and outpatient exposure to sickle cell disease in either or both pediatric and adult settings, depending on the trainee's clinical background in pediatrics or adult medicine. The scholar may choose to obtain additional training to qualify him/her to sit for specialty boards in hematology/oncology, in cooperation with the training program of the scholar's choosing. The scientific didiactic and experiential curriculum of the scholar will feature broad training in sickle cell disease, plus intense training in the research laboratory or clinical research environment of the chosen mentor. Mentors are working in one of three available research tracks, which correspond to the foci of the three research teams of the Virginia CSCC research program. Experience at the NIH's clinical program in vascular biology will be available to the trainee(s). Placement of the scholar into an initial academic career will be the goal of training.
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