Training Program in Neuroengineering and Medicine

我们的多学科机构培训计划的目的，在医学和工程学院在宾夕法尼亚大学的基础上，是培养博士前工程学生和医生博士后研究员在神经工程及其临床翻译。神经系统疾病，如中风、癫痫、帕金森病、抑郁症、痴呆和头部创伤，占所有疾病和残疾的35%，而且负担还在上升。在成像、分析和调节神经回路的新技术中，针对这些疾病的有前途的疗法激增，但将这些疗法从实验室转化为患者是一项挑战。它需要受过临床科学教育的有才华的工程师和精通技术的医生，他们说同样的语言。这些研究人员必须共同应对复杂的科学、监管和临床环境。尽管需求巨大，但很少有正式的跨学科神经工程培训计划存在。 我们的项目由宾夕法尼亚大学医学与工程学院分享，专注于神经工程和临床翻译，每年从大约60名医学博士研究员和55-75名博士生中招募。医生和工程学员将共同精通神经工程前沿的尖端技术，如设备，神经刺激，机器学习，算法开发，云计算，纳米技术和材料科学。他们将为人类疾病创新新疗法，并深入了解将新技术安全地带给患者所需的临床，监管和发展环境。该计划的核心是一组合作，多学科的教师导师在工程和临床神经科学。 除了专门的神经工程研究，我们的培训计划包括：（1）博士生的纵向指导临床经验，（2）MD博士后研究员的工程实验室沉浸和辅导，（3）工程，神经科学，医学和统计学的课程和研讨会，（4）正确进行研究的培训，（5）专业和职业发展研讨会，包括科学写作，口头报告和实验室管理，（6）新的程序将是一个专门的统计学家和专家嘉宾演讲者领导密集的教学研讨会上的定量工具和方法，实验设计，和统计方法，和（7）所有的期刊俱乐部，讲习班和一对一辅导将有时间专门用于促进量化知识和思考，以解决研究中的问题。 该计划在宾夕法尼亚大学是独一无二的，利用了一流的研究和培训环境，包括一个紧凑的校园，工程，医学，神经科学和统计学的强大中心都位于彼此的两个街区内，通过宾夕法尼亚大学的神经工程和治疗中心联合起来。

The aim of our multidisciplinary institutional training program, based in the Schools of Medicine and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, is to train predoctoral engineering students and physician postdoctoral fellows in Neuroengineering and its clinical translation. Disorders of the nervous system, such as stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, depression, dementia, and head trauma, constitute 35% of all disease and disability, and the burden is rising. There is an explosion of promising therapies for these disorders in new technologies to image, analyze, and modulate neural circuits, but translating these therapies from the laboratory to patients is a challenge. It requires talented engineers educated in clinical science and technically proficient physicians who speak the same language. Together these investigators must navigate a complex scientific, regulatory, and clinical landscape. Despite the huge demand, few formal, interdisciplinary Neuroengineering training programs exist. Our program is shared by the Penn Schools of Medicine and Engineering focused on Neuroengineering and Clinical Translation and recruits from an excellent pool of ~60 MD fellows and 55-75 PhD students each year. Physician and Engineering trainees will together become fluent in cutting-edge technologies at the forefront of Neuroengineering, such as devices, neurostimulation, machine learning, algorithm development, cloud computing, nanotechnology and materials science. They will innovate new therapies for human disease and gain a thorough understanding of the clinical, regulatory, and developmental environments necessary to safely bring new technologies to patients. The program’s core is a group of collaborative, multidisciplinary faculty mentors in engineering and the clinical neurosciences. In addition to dedicated neuroengineering research, our training program includes: (1) a longitudinal mentored clinical experience for PhD candidates, (2) engineering lab immersion and tutorial for MD postdoctoral fellows, (3) courses and seminars in Engineering, Neuroscience, Medicine and Statistics, (4) training in the proper conduct of research, (5) workshops on professional and career development, including scientific writing, oral presentations, and laboratory management, (6) new to the program will be a dedicated statistician and expert guest speakers leading intensive didactic seminars on quantitative tools and approaches, experimental design, and statistical methodology, and (7) all journal clubs, workshops and one-on-one mentoring will have time devoted to promoting quantitative literacy and thinking to address issues in research. The program, unique at Penn, leverages a superb research and training environment, including a compact campus where robust centers for Engineering, Medicine, Neuroscience and Statistics all reside within two blocks of each other, united through Penn’s Center for Neuroengineering and Therapeutics.