Clinical Scientists Training Program in Addictions at MUSC

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Abstract This renewal application from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) requests support for the continuation of the NIDA Mentored Clinical Scientists Development Program in Drug Abuse and Addiction (NIDA K12) at MUSC. Established in 2012, the overall objective of the NIDA K12 program was to establish an intensive program of mentored clinical research training and career development activities to promote the research independence of Scholars in the area of substance use disorders. The substantial expertise in addictions research at MUSC ensures our ability to mentor individuals in early stages of their research careers to contribute significantly to the understanding and treatment of substance use disorders. In the previous funding periods, an infrastructure of a strong mentorship development program has been established and participating Scholars have had significant success in obtaining independent federal funding. This application requests support to build on our previous programmatic successes by making innovative changes to strengthen the K12 program, including increasing opportunities for Scholar training in leadership development and science writing, providing innovative and timely didactic trainings in clinical research and entrepreneurship, broadening our mentorship pool to provide expertise in telehealth, opioid use disorders, and health disparities, and leveraging the newly developed MUSC Regional Health Network to expand addiction research throughout South Carolina. There are three Scholar positions in the program. Scholars will remain in the program for typically two to four years, depending on their level of training and experience at entry and time needed to obtain independent funding. Scholars will be junior faculty members who are recruited from internal and external pools. In keeping with the mission of NIDA, emphasis during the renewal funding period will continue to be placed on attracting and training clinical researchers to ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained scientists will be available to address the Nation’s critical health care needs in the area of drug abuse.