In the most recent 10 years of our T32, 35 of our 53 trainees have completed training. Of these 35, 32 are currently active in scientific research including 8 in industry and 24 in academia, 13 of whom serve at the rank of assistant professor or higher. Even in times of low pay lines, these T32 trainees have been highly successful, garnering thus far from the NIH seven F awards, four Ks, and four Rs. They have also won one research grant from the NSF and thirteen highly competitive career development research awards from foundations (AHA, ALA, APS, PBF, LAM, Nemours). We are particularly proud that 9 of these 53 trainees are under-represented minorities (URMs). Of the 5 URMs who completed training, all 5 now hold the rank of assistant professor on the tenure track. In 39 years of continuous T32 support from the NHLBI, we have never had an unfilled slot. Trainees with backgrounds in biology, medicine, engineering, and physics work side-by-side on problems at the intersection of pulmonary sciences and environmental exposures. These trainees benefit from working with each other, working with trainees not supported by this T32, and working with a well-funded, well-published, interdisciplinary faculty. This faculty addresses three main problems: environmental contaminants & air pollution, lung infection, and asthma. The theme of pulmonary inflammation spans these foci. A unique feature is our strong emphasis on engineering and physical sciences. Bridging the gap between the life sciences and the physical / engineering sciences has been a longstanding hallmark of our program. These themes foster exceptional levels of collaboration among a faculty with unusually diverse yet highly complementary expertise. They unify the faculty into a cohesive interdisciplinary team focusing on basic mechanisms of lung disease. Our training approach recognizes that the breadth of interdisciplinary research teams is expanding. At the intersection of environment and health, in particular, teams increasingly need strong grounding in basic biology, genomics, bio-engineering, biophysics, and exposure and population sciences, as well as increasingly sophisticated analyses of disease models. Only then will they be prepared to study the interaction of susceptibility genes with environmental exposures. Hence, we adopt the approach that the modern trainee cannot be expected to do it all; rather, to succeed he or she will need the strongest possible disciplinary foundation together with the tools needed to work effectively with others outside their own discipline. Our Program offers access to excellent facilities and unique nanotechnologies, and is designed so that trainees will: 1) master modern technologies of cell and molecular biology as well as integrative physiology; 2) learn the relative strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, 3) design experiments effectively and interpret data critically, 4) adapt well to change, and 5) build successful careers as responsible members of the scientific community.
Most respiratory training programs are housed within centers of clinical medicine and focus upon the interface between basic respiratory science and applied clinical / translational science. Ours by contrast is housed within a school of public health and focuses on the intersections between basic respiratory science and environmental exposure, often in the context of global public health. We are the only pulmonary training program emphasizing bioengineering, nano-science, and interdisciplinary approaches that bridge the physical and the biological sciences, thereby providing our trainees with perspectives, skills, and expertise that are available nowhere else.
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