(taken directly from the application) This proposal seeks continued support for a training program in Endocrine and Metabolic research at Boston University School of Medicine that is presently in its 33rd year. The purpose of this markedly expanded and revised program is to prepare qualified trainees for careers as independent investigators in the areas of Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism and selected aspects of Endocrinology. Training will take place in the Diabetes and Vascular Biology Unit and sections of Endocrinology, Molecular Medicine and Geriatrics at Boston Medical Center, the Departments of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine and the section of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health. In addition, there is an NIH-funded General and Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at Boston Medical Center in which patients with endocrine and metabolic diseases and hypertension are studied. The 16 senior program faculty are presently or have been principal investigators on 28 research grants funded or about to be funded by the NIH. Their special areas of strength are diabetes and its vascular complications, obesity, insulin secretion and action, adipose tissue biology and metabolism, vitamin D, calcium and osteoporosis, signal transduction, epidemiology, and molecular biology. Funds are requested for 5 post-doctoral and 4 pre-doctoral trainees who will typically spend 3-4 years in the program. They will be chosen by an Executive Committee consisting of the program director, two co-directors and four other investigators in the program, selected on a rotating basis by the directors. Based on our recent experience, approximately half of the pre-doctoral trainees will be M.D.-Ph.D. candidates. Only M.D. Fellows who choose to enter a program leading to a Ph.D., M.P.H. or other graduate degree or who have otherwise shown evidence of commitment to an academic career, will be admitted. Specific degree programs have recently been developed at Boston University with these individuals in mind.
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