Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (NUCATS)

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Research focused on child and adolescent health lags behind that conducted with adults, due in part to the difficulty of recruiting investigators into the field. The goal of this Multidisciplinary Training Program in Child and Adolescent Health is to address the need for well-trained pediatric researchers by attracting talented trainees, equipping them with the tools to succeed and retaining their commitment to child health research. We believe Northwestern University (NU) and the NU Clinical and Translational Science Institute (NUCATS) are uniquely poised to innovatively address these challenges. We propose two approaches, a post-doctoral training program for clinical and basic scientists and a Summer Immersion Program (SIP) to attract underrepresented minorities to child and adolescent health research careers. In the postdoctoral program, we will apply our established expertise in recruiting and training young scientists and clinicians in translational science focused on child health. Each year, two pediatricians and two engineers (or similar PhD scientists) will be selected for a two-year training program, with a total of eight trainees in the program at one time. A rigorous selection process will examine the likelihood that the proposed training will lead to a career in which scientific approaches and clinical insight will be combined to advance child and adolescent health. The program plan is innovative and includes robust mentoring teams for each trainee. Primary mentors will be supported, as appropriate, by additional mentors with expertise in complementary scientific approaches; in Research Design, Analysis and Methods (RAMP); and in Community Stakeholder involvement. The trainees will undergo a unique orientation and individual development planning process to help them effectively utilize the breadth of resources and opportunities available to them. Core training elements will include a course in fundamentals of child-health research and a peer-mentoring program that has been highly successful at NU. Team science and mentoring workshops will be provided by national experts, to support mentors and mentees in navigating their roles on the mentoring team. Specific programming will address retention of women in child and adolescent health research. In the second approach, the SIP program will encourage underrepresented minorities to pursue careers in child health research. Each year, four highly-qualified Masters' students at Chicago State University will be selected to spend 10 weeks with TL1 mentors, complemented by ongoing interaction with SIP leadership before, during and after the program. This TL1 program is based on our successful track record at NU of training engineers and clinician-scientists in translational research, and benefits from unique strengths at NU that include top-tier clinical resources in Lurie Children's Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, strong and accelerating research programs at NU's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and Feinberg School of Medicine, and NUCATS.