This proposal requests a renewal of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Here at UNC, the MD-PhD Program supported by this MSTP is designed for individuals from broadly diverse backgrounds with a wide variety of academic interests who seek to become physician-scientists. The leadership of this program has worked very hard to integrate a strong educational experience in clinical medicine with the many superb research opportunities that are available in a wide variety of scientific disciplines throughout this University campus. Once in the program, the students are provided with a structured, yet flexible curriculum, one that is designed to make the best possible opportunities readily available to each individual. ? ? The past five years has witnessed a substantial increase in the size of our program, as it has grown from 24 students at the time that the original MSTP application was submitted to the NIH to the 50 students who are described in this proposal. This growth has now enabled our program to build the critical mass of young people who share common goals and aspirations which, we believe is absolutely essential to the long-term success of our program. Furthermore, it is not simply in the number of students that our program has grown, as we are now drawing each class of students from a broad-based national pool of highly qualified candidates who are receiving their undergraduate degrees from many of the best schools in the USA. We have also observed a substantial expansion in the size and strength of our training faculty. In this application, we have described well over 150 investigators at all levels of seniority: (i.e., 25 Assistant Professors, 35 Associate Professors, and 100 full Professors), each of whom: a) holds peer-reviewed grant support; and b) has a track record as a successful mentor for young people. It is not surprising that the members of our training faculty are vigorously recruiting MD-PhD students to their individual research laboratories. ? ? Based on our success over the past five years, we are now requesting the funds necessary to support an additional four students per year for each of the upcoming five years. Funds from this MSTP award, combined with the institutional dollars already committed, will enable the program to enroll at least ten new students per year. ? ? In summary, we are delighted with the progress that the UNC MD-PhD Program has made over the past seven years, and we are especially pleased with the growth and development in this Program that has transpired since 1999 when UNC first achieved designation as an MSTP institution. We sincerely hope that this application conveys to the reader the enthusiasm we have for our institution, as well as our pride in the students and faculty who together comprise the UNC MD-PhD Program. ? ?
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