Mentoring Clinical and Translational Patient-Oriented Research in Staphylococci

描述（申请人提供）：自十年前完成临床培训以来，我的研究一直集中在“为什么一些金黄色葡萄球菌感染的患者表现良好，而另一些患者表现不佳？”最近，作为一名医生兼科学家，我走到了一个截然不同的十字路口。我已经建立了一个研究基础设施，资金充足，研究活动广泛。虽然重点是金黄色葡萄球菌，但它涵盖了生物发病机制的基础科学，宿主遗传易感性，以及疾病的直接临床特征。我所在的机构环境允许我利用其丰富的培训和学员资源。我还展示了向各种各样的初级研究人员提供指导的记录。由于这些原因，我认为获得K24对我来说至关重要，这样我就可以专注于研究和指导，避免医生/科学家在临床过度投入的常见陷阱。因此，本提案的总体目标是通过在葡萄球菌临床和转化患者导向研究中培训下一代临床医生-科学家来提高我的指导技能。辅导技能不是天生的；它们可以也应该被学习。我将通过几种方式培养我的指导专业知识。首先，由资深研究人员和导师组成的顾问委员会将定期对我的指导进度进行正式审查。接下来，我将创建“指导职业中期导师计划”。与上面概述的高层投入不同，该项目将采用“点对点”的方式，通过将杜克大学职业生涯中期的K24受助人聚集在一起讨论常见的指导问题，来指导技能发展。最后，我将通过参与杜克大学CTSA国家指导小组委员会，参与国家层面的指导工作。在科学上，我将通过追求两个具体目标来促进我的指导计划，这些目标结合了我的研究平台的广度。每个Aim包括几个不同的项目，重点是葡萄球菌患者导向的研究。这些项目将作为假设检验科学，巩固我的指导计划。具体目标1，指导临床患者导向的葡萄球菌研究，将通过开展3个单独项目来完成：一个项目侧重于导管相关葡萄球菌菌血症治疗算法的随机多国试验，另外两个项目采用大型葡萄球菌感染临床数据库。具体目标2，指导葡萄球菌的转化患者导向研究，将通过开展涉及金黄色葡萄球菌感染的细菌和宿主遗传决定因素的几个项目来完成。我的长期目标是建立一个多学科项目，重点研究葡萄球菌的临床和转化性POR。通过扩大我研究项目的广度，K24将促进我朝着这一目标前进，并有助于为下一代临床科学家做好准备，以应对这种顽固的病原体。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Since the completion of my clinical training a decade ago, my research has focused on the question, "Why do some patients with Staphylococcus aureus infection do well, while others do poorly?" Recently, I have come to a distinct crossroad as a physician-scientist. I have erected a research infrastructure which is well-funded and has a breadth of research activities. While focused on S. aureus, it spans from the basic science of the organism's pathogenesis, to host genetic susceptibility, to direct clinical features of disease. I am in an institutional environment which allows me to tap into its substantial resources of training and trainees. I have also demonstrated a track record in providing mentorship to a wide variety of beginning researchers. For these reasons, I believe it is critically important for me to earn a K24 so I can focus on research and its mentoring and avoid the common pitfall of the physician/scientist who becomes clinically overcommitted. Thus, the overall goal of this proposal is to improve my mentoring skills by training the next generation of clinician-scientists in clinical and translational patient oriented research in the staphylococci. Mentoring skills are not innate; they can and should be learned. I will develop my mentoring expertise in several ways. First, my mentoring progress will receive regular formal review from an Advisory Board of senior researchers and mentors. Next, I will create the "Mentoring Mid-Career Mentors Program". In contrast to the senior-level input outlined above, this program will pursue a "peer to peer" approach to mentor skills development by bringing together Duke's mid-career K24 recipients to discuss common mentoring issues. Finally, I will participate in mentoring on a national level by involvement in the National Subcommittee on Mentoring of the Duke CTSA. Scientifically, I will facilitate my mentoring plan by pursuing two Specific Aims that incorporate the breadth of my research platform. Each Aim includes several distinct projects focused on patient oriented research of staphylococci. These projects will serve as the hypothesis-testing science that undergirds my mentoring plan. Specific Aim 1, mentoring clinical patient oriented research in staphylococci, will be accomplished by pursuing 3 individual projects: one project focused on a randomized, multinational trial of a treatment algorithm for catheter-related staphylococcal bacteremia, and two other projects employing large clinical databases of staphylococcal infections. Specific Aim 2, mentoring translational patient-oriented research in staphylococci, will be accomplished by pursuing several projects involving bacterial and host genetic determinants of S. aureus infection. My long-term objective is to create a multidisciplinary program that focuses on clinical and translational POR of staphylococci. By expanding the breadth of my research program, a K24 would enhance my progress towards this goal, and would help to prepare the next generation of clinician-scientists to confront this persistent pathogen. RELEVANCE OF THIS PROPOSAL TO PUBLIC HEALTH: This K24 proposal is highly relevant to the health of the American Public, as it aims to prepare the next generation of clinician-scientists to confront Staphylococcus aureus. S. aureus is one of the leading pathogens plaguing the American public. Rates of both infections and antibiotic resistance in S. aureus are increasing. The identification of clinical S. aureus isolates resistant to available antibiotics indicates the possibility of a pathogen resistant to all currently approved therapy. This proposal seeks to improve our understanding of this persistent pathogen by mentoring young investigators in clinical and translational patient oriented research of staphylococci.