Kidney disease and hypertension are major, growing public health problems that are targeted in the """"""""Health People 2010"""""""" agenda. There is national concern that the number of newly trained academic scientists equipped to make major advances and to assume leadership roles in these areas will be inadequate. Accordingly, the Fellowship Training Program in Renal Diseases and Hypertension represents a cooperative effort of accomplished faculty from the academic components of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston to provide to outstanding, academically-oriented postdoctoral fellows intensive basic or clinical research training in renal disorders and hypertension. A productive and collaborative group of senior scientists and physician-scientists with complementary interests and a demonstrated commitment to mentorship and training will serve as mentoring faculty to four postdoctoral fellows. The faculty laboratories offer research experience in important areas of nephrology and hypertension, including, epithelial transport physiology and biology, vascular and renal cell signaling, vascular biology, immunologically mediated injury, tissue-restricted gene expression, human clinical trials in the treatment of hypertension, and the genetics and pharmacogenomics of human hypertension and diabetes. The program provides training and didactic instruction in fundamental and state-of-the-art disciplines, including molecular, cell, and structural biology, molecular genetics, biochemistry, transgenic technologies, electrophysiology, immunology, functional genomics, gene delivery, biometry, and epidemiology. The trainees will also profit from the substantial resources of the Texas Medical Center and the enormous population of at-risk or affected patients in the area. All applicants accepted into the program must have a firm commitment to a career in academic investigation and to the goals of the Training Program. Trainees with M.D. degrees will pursue a program consisting of one year of clinical training, which is not supported by this grant, and at least two years of research training to be supported by funds from this application. Ph.D. applicants will be required to have prior research experience, which can be in non-renal fields, and outstanding references. All trainees will be required to attend specific courses addressing research methodology, experimental design, research integrity, and ethics. Representation by trainees from diverse backgrounds will be valued and encouraged. It is the goal of the Program that its graduates will contribute to a new generation of academic nephrologists and renal investigators equipped to address the challenging problems in renal diseases and hypertension
