Supported by this competitive renewal of Northwestern University?s Lung Sciences Training Program (NULSTP), our strong group of mentors will continue to train highly motivated pre- and postdoctoral trainees for an academic research career focused on the pathobiology of lung disease. The Program offers trainees a curriculum that includes didactic coursework and provides basic and/or translational research training, as well as supervision and guidance by an interdisciplinary group of internationally recognized scientists. In this renewal application we capitalize on our prior success and momentum and provide training in five scientific disciplines: (1) Lung Injury, Repair, and Regeneration; (2) Pneumonia; (3) Lung Health and Aging; (4) Chronic Lung Disease(s); and (5) Lung Immunology. The Program builds upon the strengths of current training initiatives in basic sciences, translational, health outcomes, and epidemiology research and on the considerable scientific and research training experiences of the faculty participating in our training grant. This training program will provide: (1) mentored research in disciplines that have the potential for high-impact discoveries; (2) outstanding research training through didactics, seminars, and comprehensive mentoring; and (3) an environment and infrastructure that fosters scholarly activity and career development toward independence. This application requests eight training positions that will be allocated to trainees who are committed to two to three years of research training. Three MD or MD/PhD candidates will be drawn from the highly competitive Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship programs. Two PhD trainees and three pre-doctoral trainees will be selected from the laboratories of our mentors who are performing at a high level and who have demonstrated a commitment to careers in lung biology research. The 26 mentors and 5 mentors-in-training in this Program were carefully chosen based on their track record of publications, grants, mentoring, collaboration, and interest in lung biology. The maturity of our training program is evident in the success of our trainees in the past five years, 7 have transitioned to faculty appointments, and 16 remain in training. Our trainees and faculty publish high-impact science (with an average ~4.7 publications per trainee), our trainees received 12 awards (e.g. F32) and our faculty competed successfully for NIH funding, currently holding 27 R grants, 7 U grants, and 2 P01 grants, contributing to total research funding of more than $27.9 million in 2017. Thus, we have the trainee pool, leadership, advisory boards, faculty mentors, and infrastructure to build on an already rich and successful training program. The renewal of this training program will enhance our ability to support excellent trainees and provide the scientific community with well-trained physicians and scientists who are committed to enhancing research in the field of lung biology. All of these factors make Northwestern University an ideal site for this Training Program in Lung Sciences.
The Northwestern University Training Program in Lung Sciences will build on its success in training the next generation of physician-scientists and scientists through mentored research that incorporates rigorous training in advanced technologies. Trainees will continue to publish novel science, attain fellowship and career development awards, and transition to independent research careers with the long-term goal of becoming the future leaders in lung-related translational and basic research. The Training Program in Lung Sciences has dynamically evolved to supplement hypothesis-driven research with new technologies to advance our goals of reducing the burden of lung disease and promoting lung health.
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