This proposal is the second competitive renewal for a training program in AIDS pathogenesis research for M.D. and/or Ph.D. postdoctoral fellows. The program design provides structured training, including basic science and biostatistics courses, conferences, manuscript and grant writing activity and experience in dealing with ethical issues in research and human experimentation in such manner as most effectively will complement supervised research in the laboratory of an accomplished faculty mentor. Our program is also organized to insure that all trainees, whether M.D.s or Ph.D.s, will learn not only the scientific, but also the compelling human issues of HIV/AIDS and how to address them so that research priorities can best reflect clinical needs and opportunities. Our faculty's interests include basic issues in HIV replication and virus growth regulation, immunology and immunotherapy, molecular mechanisms in opportunistic infections, and pathogenesis of HIV and its complications. New faculty members have been added to expand the training opportunities in the areas of the metabolic disorders associated with HIV and HIV therapy, the biology of HIV-associated neurologic diseases, and studies of pharmacologic aspects attendant to HIV-related therapeutics. These new areas of HIV-related research represent part of the expansion of HIV/AIDS research at New England Medical Center that led to the award of the NIH-funded Lifespan-Tufts-Brown Center for AIDS Research in 1998. An Executive Committee, with the assistance of appropriate administrative staff and structure, oversees program operations including the fellowship selection process, communications, and monitoring of trainees' laboratory progress. We have developed and are continuing to refine specific policies and procedures to increase the number of underrepresented ethnic/racial minorities that apply for this training opportunity. The success of our trainees and training program for the first 10 years of operation are outlined, and plans for the next 5 years of training opportunities are detailed.
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