The faculty of the Yale University Department of Dermatology proposes to continue to train future leaders of academic dermatology, in a program which has been carefully integrated with strong investigators in other departments. Our current relative emphasis on the development of the research skills of MD dermatologists will be maintained, although PhD candidates judged particularly likely to assume faculty positions in dermatology departments will also be considered. Our department provides an environment which facilitates the training of research dermatologists: sixteen of the nineteen full time faculty members maintain active laboratory research programs, and the other three direct creative clinical research programs. Because we consider it most conducive to the trainees' development of intellectual independence and to the introduction of new scientific strength into the dermatology community, maximal exposure to outstanding Yale University basic scientists outside of our department will continue to be mandatory. As during the current funding period, each new trainee will have two primary advisors: one inside and one outside the Dermatology Department, and research will be performed in the laboratory of one of these advisors. In the event that the principal laboratory experience is outside the department, under the mentorship of one of the designated nondermatology basic scientists or another equivalent individual, the Dermatology Department faculty advisor will monitor progress of the trainee and certify that the training program is relevant to the trainee's future in the specialty. In the event that the trainee works directly in a dermatology laboratory, the nondermatology Yale advisor will ensure exposure to additional basic technology, scientific review, seminars and peer group interactions. For the past three years, the scientific collaborations between the dermatology and non-dermatology faculties interested in cutaneous biology have been further enhanced by the new NIH Yale Skin Disease Research Center (YSDRC). The non-dermatology Yale advisors for this training grant proposal have been selected because of their regular interaction with the YSDRC or fellows supported by this grant. Of the twelve post-doctoral fellows who have completed their training during the current period, eight have continued active research, five as faculty members in dermatology departments, and three in training programs. They have published extensively, and four have won national awards for their research accomplishments. Because of this enhanced success rate and the availability to us of additional outstanding candidates, an increase in the number of trainees from four to six positions is requested. Training will continue to be offered at several levels in the biological and clinical aspects of benign and malignant pigment cells, of keratinocyte growth and differentiation, of microvasculature structure and wound healing, in the study of malignant human T lymphocytes, in basic molecular and cellular immunology and in photochemistry.
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