This is a new application for a PREDOCTORAL training program designed to train yearly five graduate students interested in the cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular diseases represent the major causes of mortality and morbidity in the United States, and thus require major efforts in fundamental research. The training program will provide a format for the training of future scientists who will devote time and efforts in developing the tools to study and control the disease. The major goal of this application is to establish a formal research and academic training program for Ph.D. as well as M.D.-Ph.D. candidates that have been carefully selected from a total pool of applicants to the medical school, thus capturing attention of competent young scientists to cardiovascular research, leading the way to a career in biomedical research. Training will be offered in topics related to cardiovascular disease including atherosclerosis, heart failure and hypertension, with application of disciplines as physiology, pharmacology, pathology, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology. The curriculum will also include special courses in cardiovascular biology, with a focus on basic research, mechanism of disease and clinical relevance. Trainees will participate in various activities of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) at our institute. The training faculty is affiliated with basic science departments and with the CVI. There are strong research interactions between members of the training program. Each faculty has experience in teaching graduate courses, most have had numerous trainees that have gone on to hold academic positions, and all have at least one active grant from NIH. The proposed program may be unique in that it will provide an opportunity to train predoctoral fellows in translational and basic cardiovascular research in an academic setting in which considerable experience is available, where cutting-edge funded research in cardiovascular biology is ongoing, and where sensitivity to the need of graduate students is provided by an academic mentor approach.
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