Our training program in pulmonary disease provides comprehensive research training for individuals with a serious commitment to a career in lung biology and biomedical research, particularly as it interfaces with clinical pulmonary medicine. Our primary premise has long been that lung diseases represent one of the major health problems in the U.S. and that advances in the pathobiology and pathophysiology of these diseases are required to improve diagnostics and therapeutics of lung diseases. Weill Cornell Medical Center (WCMC) is experiencing extraordinary growth in clinical and biomedical research activities, being the fastest growing medical school in revenues and possesses the highest percentage of medical student graduates who are currently in academic medicine nationally. The Department of Medicine and Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine's growth also parallels the steep slope of growth at WCMC. The institution is under new leadership: Dr. Augustine M.K. Choi was recruited in 2013 as Chairman of Medicine at WCMC and assumed the role of Dean at WCMC in January 2017. The pulmonary division is under the leadership of Dr. Fernando Martinez, who will now serve as the contact, Program Director this program. Dr. Choi will serve as co-Program Director and Dr. Robert Kaner as Associate Program Director. This group has a long record of investigative and mentoring collaboration. They strive to maintain the previous scientific and training success, while mentoring the next generation of researchers in basic and translational-clinical research. We will identify trainees with a demonstrated interest in a research career and identify an environment where these individuals can pursue research focused academic medicine careers, and in which creative and innovative approaches can be used to make fundamental discoveries with translation to clinical medicine. Finally, we provide a prolonged period of support and mentoring so that trainees are prepared to ultimately become productive independent investigators, and the next leaders in the academic pulmonary medicine community. The Program Director, with many years of experience and expertise in mentoring and training programs will enthusiastically lead this pulmonary training program initiative at WCMC. Dr. Martinez has a long track record of mentoring with two previous K24 awards and currently serving as the chair of the NHLBI MPOR study section. He had a previous leadership role in the University of Michigan T32 and CTSC. He is associate director of the WCMC CTSC. The Program Directors and Associate Program Director of this training program will continue to work with the utmost enthusiasm and energy to ensure that our trainees will continue to reach their potential to excel and contribute significantly to the academic pulmonary community. We propose a rigorous multidisciplinary T32 application for the training of 2 post-doctoral trainees annually for 3 years training duration each.
This program in pulmonary and critical care medicine provides comprehensive research training for individuals with a firm commitment to a career in research focused on lung disease. Our major goal is to train future physician scientists and scientists to become independent researchers in academic medicine. This T32 program will enable our fellows to have a better understanding of the pathogenesis of lung disease and to identify new therapeutic modalities in pulmonary disease.
| Racanelli, Alexandra C; Kikkers, Sarah Ann; Choi, Augustine M K et al. (2018) Autophagy and inflammation in chronic respiratory disease. Autophagy 14:221-232 |
