The goal of the Research Training Program in Microbial Diseases is to produce outstanding independent biomedical investigators equipped with the expertise to address critical questions and unresolved issues in infectious diseases research. A major strength of our program is its multidisciplinary nature, combining faculty and resources from multiple departments of the School of Medicine and School of Hygiene and Public Health who share an interest in infectious diseases research and have collaborated extensively over the past 5 years. Post-doctoral fellows are trained intensively in a single area in either clinical or basic science investigation with exposure to infectious diseases research in a variety of other disciplines. Twenty-four training faculty, 12 primarily in basic science investigation and 12 clinical investigators, have been selected for the strength of their research programs, level of extramural research support, prior experience in training biomedical scientists and their potential for contributing to interactive research training. The trainee's research training is supplemented with coursework, participation in select conferences, training in grant preparation and biomedical ethics as well as research presentation skills including research seminars, and presentations at scientific meetings. Our initial award supported the training of 11 fellows, 5 of whom remain in training. Five of these trainees applied for and were awarded individual research fellowship awards that supported 1 to 2 additional years of training. Five of the 6 program graduates have full-time academic positions in infectious diseases and the sixth is Medical Director of Virology at Dupont Pharmaceuticals Company. Nine of the 11 fellows have submitted or published a total of 40 manuscripts or chapters to date including 33 peer-reviewed publications based on the research training supported by this program. The two trainees supported by this training grant who have not yet published entered the research component of their training in July, 2000. Two of the 5 program graduates in academic positions are supported by post-fellowship NIH research funding which includes a NIH (NIAID) contract award and a KO8 award. Of the three without extramural post-fellowship funding, one left the training program in October, 1999, the second in July, 2000 and the third is preparing a RO1 resubmission. Since 1981, 42 of the 52 graduates (81%) of the Infectious Diseases research training program of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are active academic infectious diseases investigators in University or government positions. Approximately 75% of the graduates of the Infectious Diseases research training program since 1992 have been awarded independent research funds from the NIH or another funding source. Given these data and successes, we request support for 4 post-doctoral training positions. These grant funds provide a core of essential support for our Infectious Diseases research training program involving at least 8 MD or MD-PhD fellows annually.
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