An NIH roadmap initiative will provide a total of nearly $8 million in funding to seven institutions that can train researchers in multidisciplinary research-research involving teams of specialists from a variety of disciplines. The seven institutions, chosen because they have a strong clinical research infrastructure, will provide training to health professionals at the post-graduate level-such as those with an M.D., Ph.D., D.D.S., Pharm.D. or R.N.-Ph.D.
"A team approach is crucial for solving difficult medical problems that are too complex for scientists working in any single discipline to solve alone," said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and who, together with Robert Star, M.D., Senior Scientific Advisor at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, co-chairs the NIH Roadmap Trans-NIH Clinical Research Workforce Training Committee. "This award will help train the future leaders who can capitalize on the advances that team research will make possible."
The Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career Development Programs initiative of the NIH Roadmap is a key part of the Reengineering the Clinical Research Enterprise theme, which seeks to accelerate and strengthen the clinical research process. Specifically, this initiative is intended to produce new clinical research leaders who can cross the boundaries of their disciplines and draw upon the strengths of other fields. Clinical research includes epidemiologic and natural history studies, patient-oriented research, clinical trials, and outcomes research.
The award will support medical or public health institutions that can provide training for up to 15-20 health professionals at the post-graduate level. The trainees, known as clinical research (CR) scholars, will come from a variety of fields such as medicine, dentistry, nursing, the behavioral sciences, biostatistics and epidemiology and will receive up to five years of training. The first phase of training will consist of classroom instruction in how to design and conduct clinical research studies as part of a team of scientists encompassing several disciplines. During the second phase of their training, the CR scholars will design and take part in clinical research projects under the guidance of mentors who have extensive experience in conducting clinical research.
This initiative is unique, as it will provide training to all members of the clinical research team, including nurses, pharmacologists, biostatisticians and epidemiologists.
The seven institutions to receive the award are:
- Case Western Reserve University/ Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Richard Rudick, M.D.
- Johns Hopkins University, Neil Powe, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A
- Mayo Clinic, Sherine Gabriel, M.D.
- University of California, San Francisco, Steve Hulley, M.D., M.P.H.
- University of Pittsburgh, Wishwa Kapoor, M.D., M.P.H.
- University of Washington, Seattle, Richard Deyo, M.D., M.P.H.
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, Mary Carnes, M.D., M.S.
For more information, please contact Robert Bock or Marianne Glass Miller at (301) 496-5133.
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