The Harvard Medical School Department of Dermatology training grant has been active for more than 35 years, and over that period of time has trained many of the leaders in dermatology in the nation. Dr. Thomas Kupper has served as Principal Investigator of this T32 since 2000. Although there is a single Harvard residency training program, there are now three Harvard Dermatology appointing departments: the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. An executive committee comprised of the chairs of each of these departments oversees the residency program, and provides advice to Dr. Kupper with regard to the T32 grant. The training grant has two overarching goals. The first is to identify, recruit, and support dermatologist physician scientists interested in a career in biomedical research. While such candidates most often come from Harvard's Dermatology Residency, trainees from other residencies are eligible as well. The second overarching goal is to support the development of outstanding PhD scientists who are interested in a research career in investigative dermatology and related fields. We have achieved these goals over the past 4.5 years of the training grant, training a nearly equal mix of physician scientists and PhD scientists. Considering the past decade of the training grant, 92% of the physician scientists who matriculated still remain in academic medicine, and 88% of PhD scientists remain in academia or in the biotechnology sector. This group of 31 trainees has authored 220 peer reviewed manuscripts since 2005, and the mean impact factor of these publications is an impressive 9.23. Over the past 15 years, graduates of the program include a Department Chair (Dr. Qureshi), a Division Chief (Dr. Aires), an internationally known immunodermatologist (Dr. Clark), and many other academic faculty, several of whom hold NIH funding. For the next funding cycle, we have recruited an outstanding External Advisory Board consisting of eminent academic dermatologists and scientists, who will assist with choosing candidates. It remains our conviction that Training Grant support for young biomedical scientists interested in skin disease research has never been more critical to their careers, and by extension, the long term survival of academic investigative dermatology
At least two years of mentorship and training in research approaches and techniques are absolutely essential as graduates of dermatology training programs or PhD programs transition from student to independent biomedical scientists. The Harvard Dermatology Training grant provides this support, partnering the most promising trainees with accomplished and supportive research mentors who will sponsor their work in their laboratories. We wish to continue to build on the extraordinary success that this program has achieved over the last 40 years, in training the best and the brightest biomedical scientists of tomorrow.
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