Training Program in Neuroengineering and Medicine

我们在宾夕法尼亚大学医学院和工程学院的多学科机构培训计划的目标是培养神经工程及其临床翻译方面的博士生和博士后医师。神经系统疾病，如中风、癫痫、帕金森氏病、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，这些疾病的治疗方法有了爆炸式的发展，但将这些治疗方法从实验室转化为患者是一个挑战。它需要在临床科学方面受过教育的天才工程师和说同一种语言的技术熟练的医生。这些研究人员必须共同应对复杂的科学、监管和临床环境。尽管需求量巨大，但很少有正式的、跨学科的神经工程培训项目存在。我们的项目由宾夕法尼亚大学医学院和工程学院共享，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。医生和工程培训生将一起熟练掌握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。他们将创新人类疾病的新疗法，并深入了解临床、监管和发展环境，以安全地将新技术带给患者。该计划的核心是一群在工程和临床神经科学领域合作的多学科教师导师。除了专门的神经工程研究，我们的培训计划包括：(1)为博士候选人提供纵向指导的临床经验，(2)为医学博士博士后提供工程实验室沉浸和指导，(3)工程、神经科学、医学和统计学方面的课程和研讨会，(4)正确开展研究的培训，(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)新加入该计划的将是一名专门的统计学家和专家客座演讲嘉宾，领导关于定量工具和方法、实验设计和统计方法的密集教学研讨会；(7)所有期刊俱乐部、讲习班和一对一指导将有时间专门用于促进定量素养和思考，以解决研究中的问题。该项目在宾夕法尼亚大学独一无二，利用了一个极好的研究和培训环境，包括一个紧凑的校园，其中强大的工程、医学、神经科学和统计学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.