The specific aim the UC Davis Emergency Medicine (EM) K12 Training Program, is to provide junior faculty with the critical skills to become successful, independent, federally-funded EM researchers. Within our program, we will train both general EM and pediatric EM (PEM) researchers for a 3-year period, with a special focus on participation and leadership in multicenter research. Our goal is to enhance the science and improve the care of adults and children with acute medical illnesses and injuries that fall within the specific NHLBI domains such as severe trauma, cardiovascular diseases, hematological diseases, and respiratory diseases. We will achieve this with intensive didactic training and mentorship of the scholars in clinical research methods, including clinical epidemiology, health services research, including comparative effectiveness research. We will train 5 post-doctorate scholars from any of a number of disciplines, over the 5-year award period. The need for well-trained EM researchers is critical to the future of the field and for the public health. The PIs of this proposal have particular expertise in trauma research and multicenter research, but have identified an additional pool of talented faculty mentors from many other disciplines and departments. Scholars will have the opportunity to select and interact with experienced research mentors, with strong track records in research productivity and extramural research funding, across multiple disciplines at UC Davis, including EM, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, Family and Community Medicine, Public Health Sciences, and the School of Nursing. The broad spectrum of mentors includes experts in cardiology, pulmonology, hematologic and traumatic emergencies, as well as PEM research; the K12 scholars' mentored projects will be focused on one of these areas. Scholars will also interface with other trainees in an established Mentored Clinical Research Training Program (K30), and complete a Masters in Advanced Studies degree. A formal evaluation program will ensure that the EM K12 program is responsive to the needs of the scholars, mindful of changes in EM practice and research. The UC Davis Department of EM is well suited to offer this training program, having demonstrated broad and sustained growth in its research program and productivity over the past decade. In addition to growth in extramural research funding over the past ten years, the Department is a recent recipient of an Institutional Training Grant from the Society for Academic EM (SAEM), which currently funds research fellows in the department, but is insufficient in itself for sustaining multiple research scholars in EM/PEM. The Department demonstrates its support for research with a robust research infrastructure, which includes a Research Director, two Research Managers (one focused on multicenter research), and four full-time clinical research coordinators. The departmental also demonstrates its research commitment by providing funding for junior faculty research projects through an annual competitive process, through monthly research in progress meetings and a required research project for all EM Residents. Finally, UC Davis provides a unique and exceptionally rich environment for training EM researchers in clinical research and preparing them for collaborative research careers in which they will become independently funded. The UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center, established in 2006 as one of the vanguard NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards, houses established interdisciplinary training programs and extensive research resources that will interface with our EM K12 program. Our vision is that the scholars completing the UC Davis EM K12 training program will be prepared with transformative and interdisciplinary approaches to EM/PEM research, leading them to new insights in the specialty of EM, and ultimately resulting in improved care of the patients whom we serve.
The primary objective of the Emergency Medicine K12 program at UC Davis is to provide junior investigators with state-of-the art clinical research training to foster independent careers in emergency medicine research. By completing graduate level courses focused on clinical research, the scholars will be awarded a Master of Advanced Study degree in Clinical Research. With research mentors from not only the Department of Emergency Medicine but from many other departments, each of whom have substantial track records of publications and research funding, the scholars will develop independent research projects that will help propel them into the next level of their academic careers.
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