Clinical Research Curriculum Award

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This application is a competitive renewal of our existing Clinical Research Curriculum Award (K30) program, which was funded in October 2000. Our current program includes focused clinical research training centered on a M.S. in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine with a Clinical Research Track, as well as a series of short courses open to all investigators at the University of Maryland Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Dentistry. This program has been highly successful, generating substantial interest in clinical research activities and developing an outstanding cadre of well-trained clinical investigators. However, as the program has grown, we have become increasingly aware that the focused training in epidemiology provided by our program covers only part of the field of clinical research, which encompasses patient- oriented research, epidemiologic research, behavioral research, and outcomes/health services research. To provide optimal flexibility for our trainees, we have created a new Master's of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) degree in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (DEPM). MSCR students can concentrate in one of four clinical research areas: epidemiology, outcomes/health services research, human genetics, or research ethics. Trainees with no formal training in clinical research will be encouraged to complete the degree program. Trainees with formal training in clinical research (e.g., a M.P.H.) can use the program to augment their skills with focused course work, lectures and workshops and the mentored research experience. All trainees will complete a mentored research project in their research area of interest, taking advantage of the excellent pool of clinical research mentors available at our institution. The Program Directors will help trainees develop an effective mentoring team. Both trainees and mentors participating in the program will receive specific training to optimize the mentor-mentee relationship. Finally, we will continue and expand our current offerings of short courses, to provide investigators outside of the formal training program with opportunities for further clinical research training. The long-term goal of this clinical research training program is to produce clinical researchers who are 1) knowledgeable about the complex issues associated with conducting sound clinical research; 2) published; and 3) competitive in seeking external support for clinical research. Details are provided in the Narrative.