Clinical Research in STDs

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sexually transmitted diseases exact a heavy toll on society. Annually, the number of STD cases exceed over 13 million in the United States and over 250 million cases worldwide. There is a current shortage of young clinical investigators, especially in areas with enormous public health import-such as STDs. Johns Hopkins has had a long tradition of performing clinical research in STDs and public health prevention, and provides a supportive setting for mentoring new investigators. This proposal will build on our past successful experiences in mentoring investigators. During the initial grant period, the PI established an STD Center for Excellence at Johns Hopkins, received a T32 training grant to fund trainees in STD research, received funding for 5 postdoctoral CDC STD fellows, mentored 32 pre and postdoctoral investigators resulting in 28 peer reviewed publications, instituted a seminar series and developed introductory and advanced courses in STD methods, including a course provided in distance education format. A unique aspect of the program is development of investigators at other institutions which do not have STD training capacity. In this renewal application, the PI proposes to continue developing mentoring relationships which will include: clinical experiences in the Baltimore STD clinics and Johns Hopkins AIDS Service; epidemiology and biostatistical training, and presentation and manuscript-writing skills. Mentees are supervised with weekly or biweekly conferences depending on skill level. Mentees at all levels are expected to develop an independent research project resulting in presentation at national meetings and publication.