The shortage of clinical research trainees continues to be a crisis for academic medicine. This competingcontinuation application for a Clinical Research Curriculum Award (CRCA) at Northwestern University'sFeinberg School of Medicine (FSM) responds to the ongoing need for an expanding program of clinical researchtraining by assuring leadership, oversight, coordination, and expansion of course offerings and workshops for theclinical investigator training enterprise. The goal of this competing application is to expand an existing cohesiveframework for training a critical mass of clinical investigators and to address ongoing needs identified by ourevaluation process. Objectives of this renewal application for the Clinical Research Curriculum program at FSMare: 1) To further develop and strengthen an established interdepartmental administrative structure which overseesthe research training of junior faculty, clinical fellows, and residents; 2) To develop 3 new clinical researchcourses (Clinical Measurement; Medical Informatics; and Bioinformatics) to expand existing offerings in asuccessful Masters in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) degree program; 3) To continue an ongoing process forevaluation of the program's effectiveness in meeting its goals and objectives; and 4) To develop new activities inthis application including the establishment of a Visiting Clinical Scientist program, creation of a trainee's clinicalresearch day (including research prizes for the best abstracts), and expansion of trainee workshops to includeleadership/teamwork training, and implementation of a mentoring workshop for mentors of the CRCA trainees.The long-term goal of the CRCA is to encourage bright, enthusiastic, well-trained, academically-oriented 9hysicians to pursue careers in clinical investigation, make them knowledgeable about the complex issues tssociated with conducting scientifically and ethically sound clinical research, and maximize the likelihood theywill be competitive in seeking subsequent research support. The program builds on strengths established duringthe current period of funding that began in FY2001 and on the considerable scientific and research trainingexperiences of faculty from a wide variety of medical school departments, centers, and institutes. The continueddevelopment of the program comes at a time of substantial and sustained growth in FSM's clinical researchenterprise. All of these factors make Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine an ideal site for acontinuing NIH-funded Clinical Research Curriculum Award.
