Interdisciplinary training in pharmacological sciences

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Graduate Program in Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology is a small and very diverse program with a strong set of courses and activities, as well as extensive mentoring mechanisms. Leadership of the program is by a group of three accomplished MPIs with complementary strengths and expertise that guarantee effective oversight of the program. The request is for 4 T32 slots per year; the total number of students in the program is 20. This training program in "Interdisciplinary Training in Pharmacological Sciences" will replace our current NIGMS pharmacology T32, ending in June of 2021. The training in our program focuses on fundamental principles of pharmacology, rigor and reproducibility, and cutting-edge quantitative methods. Our trainees participate in many activities that promote interaction, collaboration and professional development. Here we propose a number of new initiatives in the curriculum, professional development, program oversight and recruitment. A recent innovative initiative we are developing in the program is the establishment of summer internships at Pfizer pharmaceutical company labs; these internships will give our trainees the unique opportunity to experience first-hand the scientific environment in a pharmaceutical company and make informed decisions for their future careers. Our current admissions and recruitment practices have yielded a high percentage of students from disadvantaged and underrepresented groups (in the last 5 years, 47% underrepresented minorities plus 7% disabled), and there has been 100% retention of these students in the program during the last 15 years (retention for the program in general is 95%). The career outcomes of the students are excellent, with 52% of students staying in academia (25% faculty, 27% currently postdocs) often at top institutions, about 25% as scientists in pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies, and the remainder in a variety of science and medicine- related careers. Thus, our program has been training a highly diverse group of students who have become successful in different areas of science; the new initiatives proposed in our T32 application will further enhance our unique program and improve the quality of the training.