This is an NIH T32 institutional training grant application for a new program at Baylor College of Medicine focused on the training of physicians as investigators in the discipline of immunology. Trainees will be recruited and selected from a large pool of outstanding applicants to the ACGME/RRC approved Baylor dual track training programs in allergy and immunology and in rheumatology. One trainee will be selected to enter the proposed T32 training program each year for three years of rigorous scientific training after they have completed one year of clinical training in allergy/immunology and rheumatology. Fifteen tenure track faculty have been carefully selected to serve as mentors, based on their excellence in research and teaching. Trainees will enroll in graduate school courses and Baylor's NIH K30 supported physician scientist course in clinical investigation to acquire a sound fund of knowledge in basic science and immunology, the principles of conducting clinical research, and the ethical conduct of research. Trainees will be comprehensively mentored in hypothesis driven research, preparation and publication of manuscripts, presentations at national meetings, preparation of grant proposals, skills for teaching and mentoring, and academic career development. The mentors are selected from over 40 faculty within the new multidisciplinary Biology of Inflammation Center at Baylor, and provide a highly interactive critical mass of investigators with diverse trainees comprised of graduate students, medical students, PhD postdocs and MD postdocs. Mentors provide training opportunities in cytokine structure and function, chemokine biology, adhesion molecules, signal transduction and termination of signaling, gene activation, metalloproteases and tissue remodeling, cellular immunology and immunoregulation, murine models of inflammation, and design of valid tools for epidemiology and clinical trial outcome analysis. The goal of the training program is to develop immunology physician scientists who will serve as the academic leaders of the future.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 41 publications
