This is a competitive renewal application for a National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Training grant (T32) for research training in pediatric urology at Boston Children's Hospital. For the past 14 years, this funding mechanism has supported the research component of our pediatric urology fellowship program. The pediatric urology fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital is the oldest and one of the most highly regarded such programs in the world. The Urology Department at BCH is one of the world's leading centers for pediatric urology and genitourinary reconstruction and has one of the largest research programs dedicated to basic urology research in the country. The overall goals of the training program are: (1) to teach state-of-the-art, hypothesis-driven, modern research methodology relevant to both basic science and clinical research; (2) to provide sufficient time and guidance for a mature postdoctoral experience in basic, translational or clinical studies relevant to the trainees' future clinical careers and academic leadership roles; (3) to provide trainees' with tangible skills in scientific writing, mentoring, personnel management and leadership to facilitate their transition to independent careers as clinician-scientists; and (4) to facilitate funding through career development and investigator-initiated grants. In the most recent funding cycle, postdoctoral MD trainees who have completed urology residency have conducted research in laboratory-based studies of urogenital tract development, physiology and pathophysiology. Training in clinical outcomes and health services research is also available in conjunction with faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Trainees also undergo didactic training in critical thinking and grant writing, biostatistics and the responsible conduct of research. Two postdoctoral positions are requested per year for 2 years of research training. Twenty preceptors and 8 clinical preceptors comprising basic science and clinical faculty from 7 programs will support the training program. The fellowship represents a unique combination of outstanding basic, translational and clinical research training within one of the world's leading centers for academic medicine and biomedical science. It is designed to enable our graduates to establish their own competitive programs of scholarship and research during their careers as academic pediatric urologists. We anticipate these clinician-scientists will become leaders in academic urology through contributions to understanding the genitourinary system in fundamental terms, to translating basic research findings into clinical applications and to understanding the implications of new discoveries for patient care. The T32 Pediatric Urology Research Training mechanism is the major source of support for the fellows during the research component of their fellowship.
The overall goal of the training program in pediatric urology is to provide a comprehensive, mentored training experience for clinicians in a rich and stimulating environment, and to train them in state-of-the-art basic science and clinical research methodology. At the end of the fellowship, graduates will emerge with skills that will enable them to establish their own competitive programs of scholarship and research during their careers as academic pediatric urologists. We anticipate these clinician-scientists will become leaders in academic urology through contributions to understanding the genitourinary system in fundamental terms, to translating basic research findings into clinical applications and to understanding the implications of new discoveries for patient care.
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