The long-term goal of this project is to enhance the diversity and depth of the national pool of clinical investigators by increasing the availability of proven academic training in the quantitative and methodological methods of clinical research. The Clinical Research Training Program at Duke University Medical Center has offered a formalized academic program in the quantitative and methodological techniques of clinical research to clinical fellows and other health professionals since 1986. In 1998, in collaboration with the Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center at NIH, the training program extended its reach to clinical fellows and other health professionals at NIH by means of a blended distance learning model.
The specific aims of this proposal are (1) to refine and expand the CRTP at Duke University Medical Center; (2) to increase the diversity of trainees by expanding CRTP's outreach; and (3) to evaluate the impact of these initiatives and share the lessons learned. This will be accomplished by improving curriculum integration with core competencies in clinical research, increasing the diversity of the student population through a formal training partnership with Morehouse School of Medicine's Master of Science in Clinical Research Program, developing a new training program focusing on medical genomics, developing additional online instructional offerings, and identifying and testing new technologies to promote the mentoring of students at a distance.
