This proposal describes a unique multidisciplinary physician-scientist training program that will be created at Baylor College of Medicine. It will be a school-wide program that is open to all clinical and basic science departments. It represents an effort at Baylor to reverse the national trend in the decline in the number of physicians who are going into academic research-oriented careers. In the last quarter of a century, a declining number of physician-scientists pursing avenues of biomedical research was noted first by James B. Wyngaarden 1977, and subsequently, repeatedly, by other leaders in biomedicine and, recently, by members of congress. We at Baylor have established a pilot program to support physicians from any of the clinical departments to undergo rigorous research training in NIH-funded basic science laboratories. We are seeking support for the Program that has been named the Molecular Medicine Scholars Physician-Scientist Training Program, and the trainees will be called Molecular Medicine Scholars. It is a multidisciplinary program that is open to physician-trainees from all clinical departments at Baylor who will train with mentors selected from nine Departments. The Program covers disease-oriented as well as fundamental research areas that are within the mission of the NHLBI. This exciting program represents a partnership between clinical and basic science departments with the clinical departments buying into the existing excellent basic research activities at Baylor and sharing expenses with the basic science departments, both sharing the common goal of training the next generation of molecular physician-scientists. We are hopeful that the Program will play a significant role in reversing the national trend of increasing numbers of well-trained physicians leaving an academic research oriented career in biomedicine.
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