Short-Term Training Program In Biomedical Sciences

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Project Summary/Abstract This application is a competitive renewal of the NHLBI T35 training grant (Short-Term Training in Biomedical Sciences) awarded to Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) in 2011 and 2016. This T35 greatly contributed to the consolidation and expansion of the IUSM Student Program for Research and Scholarship (IMPRS). The purpose of the IMPRS program is to provide a structured research environment that engages medical students’ interest in biomedical research, creating opportunities for basic and translational research experience and education in research ethics. The main objective of the T35 is to serve as a portal to train and recruit physician-scientists. To meet the ongoing and increasing demand of IUSM medical students for opportunities to engage in biomedical research and to expand program diversity, this application seeks support to continue to enroll 32 highly motivated and diverse students/year within the IMPRS program to conduct research in cardiovascular, respiratory and hematopoietic disease in basic and clinical departments and centers at IUSM. This level of support is justified by sustained (and actually, growing) student participation, increased trainee diversity, and excellent student outcomes. In parallel, we have significantly strengthened our pool of mentors by recruiting an unprecedented pool of diverse and robustly NHLBI-funded researchers to IUSM over the last five years, thus providing an innovative and diverse training environment in cardiopulmonary, hematological and cancer research. Lastly, the program is now at an exciting inflection point, where several of the first generation of T35 trainees are pursuing research in research-heavy fellowships or are working in academic faculty positions, and bringing these alumni back to the program will provide a highly valuable experience for the current trainees. This T35 training program serves as a central portal to recruit and train students through active engagement in a diverse array of laboratory, translational and clinical research and builds on the growing student participation and increasing mentor pool. With renewed T35 support, IMPRS can maintain and improve medical student engagement in IUSM’s cutting-edge research programs. In particular, the program is designed to a) increase student awareness of the value of engaging in biomedical research by challenging students to take on independent projects during the internship; and b) support students interested in careers in academic medicine. This occurs through 1) providing access to opportunities for research presentation and publication, and 2) fostering engagement with degree programs such as the IUSM MD/PhD program, the Clinical Investigation and Translational Education program, the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute medical student gap year for research program, or external research fellowships. The long-term goal of the program is to increase the numbers and diversity of physician scientists nationally by exposing students in their early years of medical education to hypothesis-driven research focused on the molecular and cellular basis of disease and the potential for clinical translation.