The primary goal of this training program is to recruit and train promising young investigators with a commitment to trauma and inflammation research and to promote their development as clinicians / scientists capable of performing independent and productive research. A structured and integrated research training program in trauma-inflammation biology, currently used at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), will continue to be used. The Center for Surgical Research and the Department of Surgery including Trauma/Burns and Surgical Critical Care, Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Chemoprevention Center, Islet Transplant Center, and Departments of Anesthesiology, Cell Biology, Medicine, Microbiology, Pathology, Neuroscience, Physiology and Biophysics at UAB continue to be in a unique position to commit to this program because of the presence of (1) an outstanding multidisciplinary basic and clinical faculty with impeccable credentials as researchers and mentors and (2) the existence of a Level I Trauma Center, Critical Care and Burn Centers and a hospital with 80 operating rooms. These features provide a focal point for the generation of hypothesis-driven research projects that can be developed in the basic science laboratories associated with this program, and also the potential benefit of translating laboratory research to the bedside. One of the residents who trained with us at UAB on another training grant (because he started before the T32 was awarded to us) will be doing a Clinical Trauma Fellowship for the years 2005-2006. After the completion of that fellowship, he will be joining the faculty at UAB and continue to perform epidemiological and prospective clinical studies, thus fulfilling one of the roadmaps that NIH has proposed for translational research. One of the major features of this training program is the inclusion of the basic science and the clinical coordinators as well as two mentors (a PhD and an MD) for each of the trainees. We hope to offer training opportunities to four candidates each year. In addition to MDs, the training will be offered to PhDs as well as DVMs. The trainees who have completed two or three years of clinical training prior to entering this program are expected to complete the clinical training subsequently. Moreover, some outstanding potential candidates who have already completed their clinical training may seek entrance to this training program. The overall direction of this Trauma-Inflammation Research Training program will be the responsibility of the Program Director and the Executive Committee. Candidates for the program will be recruited nationally and from various Departments of UAB School of Medicine. Applications from women and underrepresented minorities will be strongly solicited. We anticipate that after the completion of the two-year training, trainees will be better prepared with expertise and knowledge to pursue meaningful academic careers in trauma and inflammation disciplines.
