A new and effective approach to training physicians and scientists for future success in executing patient- centered solutions for digestive disease requires an innovative training program within a supportive environment. New opportunities and prevailing health care trends inspired the leadership of the University of Pittsburgh's Digestive Diseases Training Program to create a forward-thinking program to attract and retain top-quality trainees and equip a new generation of physicians and scientists by integrating the tools of Big Data and Personalized Medicine into clinical and translational research and teaching team science, structured on a backbone of successful U01 programs. The new program is designed to: (a) Provide rigorous individualized training that encompasses core competencies in translational research methodologies and interdisciplinary professional skills; (b) Assemble multidisciplinary mentoring to provide expertise in the conduct of translational research projects from conceptualization to completion that include Big Data and Personalized Medicine; and (c) Support fellows' future career goals by career coaching and disseminating scholarly activities. The Program Plan includes an experienced program director and four co-directors who are leaders in clinical- translational research, basic sciences, biomedical informatics, and computational biology. The trainees will receive intense classroom and practical training through the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Clinical Research Education (ICRE), followed by core classes and electives in basic, translational, or clinical sciences. Each trainee will work with the program directors to develop an Individual Development Plan to ensure that the trainee completes all of the department requirements for a graduate degree (Masters or PhD); cultivates individualized projects of importance to patients with digestive diseases; receives program and career mentoring; and begins their appropriate career development pathway. Systematic and specific milestones are built into the program to safeguard for core competencies, timely and critically reviewed research proposals, and completion of required coursework, scholarly achievements, and career development activities, such as submission of F32s, Ks, or other competitive awards. Each trainee will have a mentoring team of a physician, scientist, and a domain expert in Big Data. Big Data electives are built into the Individual Development Plan, including Foundations of Translational Bioinformatics, Symbolic Methods in Artificial Intelligence, Probabilistic Methods for Computer-Based Decision Support, Machine Learning, Computational Genomics, and Laboratory Methods for Computational Biologists. Additional experience is gained through participation in existing U01s, multicenter clinical/translational studies, and internships. There is no precedent for this program?despite a clear need. However, our ongoing training success demonstrates the feasibility of the program and highlights our outstanding faculty and a nurturing environment that will ensure our unique training program will produce future leaders in translational and patient-centered medicine of digestive diseases in a world of Big Data.
The Digestive Diseases Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh combines traditional training in basic sciences and clinical research with advanced training in biomedical informatics and computational biology. This new emphasis on training experts in ?Big Data??using massive data sets, machine learning, modeling, and high performance computing?will equip them as leaders in new and emerging fields requiring team science and effective collaborations.
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