This is a competitive renewal application for continued support of a unique postdoctoral career development training program sponsored by the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs in conjunction with the NICHD under a cooperative agreement. The PSDP was designed to bring basic science into specialty areas of pediatrics by placing pediatric fellows in mentored research environments as they begin training in basic, translational, or health policy research. The goal of the program is to provide a cadre of entry-level young faculty superbly prepared for competitive academic research. In addition to the NICHD funding, a consortium of five private foundations also provides support for PSDP fellows. For each pediatrician selected for a PSDP fellowship, a minimum of two years of basic research training in highly selected research laboratory settings is funded by the program; fellows whose progress is exemplary compete for a third year of support. Senior scientists serve as research mentors in the laboratory, and senior pediatricians serve as academic mentors through AMSPDC. For each pediatrician in the program, a sponsoring department of pediatrics provides one year of clinical fellowship training prior to the laboratory years and two years in a junior faculty position with 75 percent research time after the conclusion of PSDP training. A unique aspect of this program is the continuum of career guidance provided trainees from the time of application through the time of recruitment into a junior faculty position. A series of PSDP Fellows' Workshops, established during the past five years of funding, advises fellows on such topics as balancing personal and professional demands, grant writing, and research timelines. In addition, each fellow's continued academic development is reviewed and monitored throughout the two to three-year training period by the PSDP Program Director, the PSDP Steering Committee, and the PSDP Program Evaluation Committee. As a result of this intense career supervision, 94 percent of our trainees have remained in academic pediatrics and approximately 60 percent of the PSDP graduates more than 5 years out are Principal Investigators on R0ls from the NIH. In each of the past two years, a doubling of applicants has attested to an increasing interest in research careers for pediatricians. Because this program integrates clinical experience with relevant laboratory endeavors, monitors progress in basic research training, and fosters career development, the PSDP insures that some of the brightest pediatricians will undertake investigative careers.
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