Training Program in Diabetes Research

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is a renewal application for the training of pediatric endocrinology fellows in state of the art diabetes research. This training program is designed to provide multidisciplinary training in diabetes research at The Barbara Davis Center (BDC) and The University of Colorado School of Medicine (UCSOM). The proposal's rationale is: 1) there is a critical shortage of pediatric endocrinologists in the country, particularly those trained and experienced in diabetes research 2) Diabetes is an increasingly significant healthcare problem in the pediatric population with devastating consequences from a personal and health economic point of view into the future 3) Current rapid advances in diabetes investigation calls for an increased pool of highly skilled physician scientists trained in clinical, biochemical, epidemiological, and behavioral research to carry out relevant, high quality basic and clinical translational research in pediatric type 1 and type 2 diabetes to bring advances in diabetes research to the clinical arena. The Barbara Davis Center has an extensive and a proven record in research training of young investigators. The BDC and UCSOM have a well established network of investigators working in the immunobiology, genetics, and molecular biology of type 1 diabetes, as well as the abnormal pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes. This network of experienced mentors is ideally suited to develop the next generation of young pediatric endocrinologists into independent diabetes investigators. Areas of research focus within The Barbara Davis Center include islet cell physiology, genetics, molecular biology, transplant immunology, and the autoimmunity, prediction and prevention of type 1 diabetes, as well as the epidemiology, prevention and treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. These areas of research are urgently needed and have been identified as important to the national public health to address the epidemic of diabetes in the U.S. This application is enhanced by the NIH supported Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center, well established, NIH supported Pediatric and Adult Clinical Translational Research Centers, and a Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, an NIH supported K30 Clinical Scientist Curriculum Award, as well as a strong Masters of Science in Public Health Program. This application has the support of the Departments of Pediatrics, Medicine, Preventive Medicine and The Children's Hospital of Denver (TCH). In the initial four years of our Training Program we have shown our ability to provide strong didactic coursework in statistics, epidemiology, research methods, ethics and regulation of human research, medical writing, biochemistry, pharmacokinetics and molecular biology through the Program in Clinical Science, as well as human medical genetics and molecular genetics, including genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics through the Program in Human Genetics. This didactic program combined with the strong mentoring faculty at the BDC and UCSOM has and will continue to allow us to provide the training young pediatric endocrinologists require to develop into independent investigators, capable of being competitive for independent research funding. The success of our graduates to secure NIH and JDRF individual mentored awards and faculty positions in academic centers, and our ability to attract excellent trainees with a clear commitment to academic research careers indicates the strength of the BDC in training pediatric endocrinologists in diabetes research. Programs within UCSOM which will be supportive of the program include The Immune Tolerance Network, the Autoimmune Prevention Center and TCH Research Foundation.