The Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Training Program (T32) at Duke University Medical Center is centered on clinical and basic science investigators in the Division of Endocrinology, as well as collaborators working in other divisions and departments. The broad goal of this program is to train the next generation of biomedical scientists working in Diabetes, Metabolism and related diseases. Post-doctoral participants in this program will be either board- eligible or board-certified physicians with training in Internal Medicine or Pediatrics, or PhD scientists pursuing careers in endocrine/metabolic research. The Duke Endocrinology T32 has a long track record of training successful investigators in diabetes, metabolic bone disease, and other areas of endocrine/metabolic research. A substantial majority (80% of trainees over the past two cycles of the grant) are in academic positions at major medical centers across the US and abroad. Most are in positions with substantial research components, supported by federal, foundation, or industry grants, and the remainder have significant teaching responsibilities. The program includes training opportunities in clinical, translational, and basic research. Mentors associated with this grant have funded research programs ranging from basic science (islet biology, mitochondrial function and energetics, metabolic flux, transcriptional regulation of metabolism), to preclinical physiology using mouse genetic models, clinical physiology in humans (insulin secretion, incretin function, exercise and metabolism, bariatric surgery) to implementation science (novel approaches to diabetes care and weight management), and outcomes research (clinical trials and epidemiology). Trainees will choose primary mentors, but have access to the full breadth of the mentorship team through collaborations, didactic teaching and seminars. Training is aimed at identifying important research questions, formulating incisive hypotheses and learning to design simple but dispositive experiments; technical and analytic proficiency will also be stressed. Individuals who complete the program will be capable of independent investigation and able to translate research accomplishments into significant advances with clinical relevance.
Diabetes and related conditions are a public health scourge, with a prevalence approaching 10% worldwide, causing significant complications and co-morbidities and enormous cost to health care systems. To meet the growing clinical needs of people affected by diabetes and other endocrine disorders, and to develop new and more effective treatments and therapeutic strategies, it is critical to train more academic Endocrinologists who have the capacity to assess and change the course of clinical diabetes through discovery, analysis, and development of new strategies. The Duke University T32 Research Training Program in Endocrinology and Metabolism has a mission to recruit and train outstanding physicians and other medical scientists for careers in endocrine/metabolic research in an outstanding multifaceted environment.
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