CORE--Clinical Research Skills Development

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We propose to establish a new educational program in translational research, the Clinical Research Skills Development Core, to address these needs. We have long-recognized the importance of the "team approach" for attacking the clinical problem of pediatric pulmonary hypertension through the integration of basic scientists from diverse fields with clinician-scientists. In addition to successes in the laboratory and clinical arenas, our program has further provided the environment for mentoring and career development of numerous young clinician-scientists, including 2 of our current project leaders, Drs. Ivy and Kinsella. In the recent past, our NIH SCOR program has further served as an important resource for ongoing NIH T32 training programs in pediatric pulmonary medicine (Dr. Abman; PI) and cardiovascular bioengineering (Dr. Shandas; PI). Thus, the overall goal of the Clinical Research Skills Development Core is to develop a more formal educational and training program in pediatric pulmonary hypertension, which can bring together the strengths of highly collaborative, multidisciplinary investigators, in order to expand our ability to better train young clinician-scientists in translational research. We have outlined a plan to develop new seminars, workshops and training approaches to disease- and patient- oriented research that incorporates experienced investigators from diverse fields. With rapid advances in genetics and genomics, proteomics, outcomes research, and related fields, we plan to bring together major leaders in these fields from within our institution and from other academic health centers. This approach is reflected in the new projects outlined in our current application. For example, Dr. Richard Spritz, the Director of Human Genetics, and Dr. Jill Norris, Head of Genetic Epidemiology, are now, for the first time, actively engaged in the application of their areas of expertise to the problem of pediatric pulmonary hypertension (Project 2). In addition, Dr. Crapo, an active participant in Project 4 will be available to bridge the bench to bedside gap in oxidant research. They will be working with recent K23 awardees or applicants (Drs. Peter Mourani, MD, and Marci Sontag, PhD), along with other senior clinicianscientists in the SCCOR Program. The addition of the Clinical Research Skills Development Core will provide a formal structure to enhance interactions and training opportunities, which will lead to highly-skilled clinical investigators who can better apply numerous skills including genetics and genetic epidemiology to pediatric pulmonary vascular disease. As outlined in the proposal, we plan to provide rigorous training structure to bring together clinician-scientists with leaders in health outcomes research, clinical trial design, clinical physiology, bioinformatics and other fields. To further enhance the training atmosphere, we plan formal workshops in scientific integrity and ethics, communication skills, mentorship, career development, and other critical topics. This program will be co-ordinated by Dr. Abman, who has extensive experience with mentorship and training as Director of the Pediatric Heart Lung Center and the PI of the NIH T32 Program in pediatric pulmonary medicine. He will work closely with Dr. Stenmark, the Project Leaders and collaborating scientists to develop this Core program.