Stanford TRANSFORM I2T Program

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Project Summary/Abstract The majority of human health advances are made at intersection of clinical medicine and scientific innovation. At this essential intersection, we need a cadre of trained physician-investigators who can ask the right questions, do the right experiments, and move medicine into the future. Despite the urgent need for this cohort, the number of physicians engaged in research is diminishing. The objectives of “TRANSFORM I2T” (Training in Research for New Stanford Faculty Or Residents Motivating Infection, Immunology, and Transplantation) are to provide resident, clinical fellow, and junior clinical faculty physicians with research experiences in the formative years of their careers, in order to engage clinician-scientists to participate in basic, translational, or clinical research in NIAID mission areas. By exposing residents during their early clinical training, we hope to engage them as physician-investigators in Infectious Diseases, Immunology, and Transplantation, so that they may have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the nation. By exposing clinical fellows and junior clinical faculty to team-science research opportunities, we hope to spark specific interests that will inform and direct careers in these subspecialties, and to train physicians for successful careers as collaborative investigators. We propose to prepare all trainees—irrespective of whether they intend to conduct their research at the bench or from the bedside—to translate their scientific discoveries into clinical practice. To this end, we request support for 5 participants each year, for a research training period of 3 to 11 months. Resident physician candidates will be selected from the exceptional internal medicine training program at Stanford – a program that has consistently attracted some of the most highly qualified graduates from research-intensive Schools of Medicine. We anticipate that the Divisions of Infectious Diseases/Geographic Medicine and Immunology/ Rheumatology will provide the majority of fellow and junior faculty candidates. Fellows and junior faculty from other divisions in which solid organ transplantation plays a major role (e.g., Nephrology, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine) will also be invited to participate. Selection into TRANSFORM I2T will be based on exceptional academic record, faculty interviews, and a strong interest in research. Every effort will be made to attract participants from underrepresented minority and other disadvantaged groups (e.g. disabled persons, long “distance traveled”). The program intends to meet a recognized need for clinicians trained in research methods relevant to Infectious Diseases, Immunology, and Transplantation - all recognized strengths of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. Graduating resident physician participants from this program are expected to transition to research-intensive fellowships; fellow and junior faculty participants will be well prepared to enhance and “transform” public health through the intersection of clinical medicine and research.