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Cardiology & Pulmonary Research Training Award

The University of Pennsylvania
http://www.cceb.upenn.edu/education/

Director: Brian Strom, MPH, MD, BS

Address, phone, e-mail

Abstract

A research training program for post-doctoral training for clinicians in cardiovascular and pulmonary clinical research, specifically designed to strengthen the links among traditional epidemiology and clinical cardiovascular and pulmonary medicine. The objective of the program is to train physicians to be rigorous and independent academic investigators able to use the range of approaches available in epidemiology to address clinical research issues regarding the etiology, prognosis, prevention and early detection, treatment, clinical economics, technology assessment, medical decision making, and quality of patient care of cardiovascular or pulmonary disease. The two- to three-year training program consists of required courses in clinical epidemiology, research methodology, and biostatistics; a required course in cardiopulmonary epidemiology; elective courses; extensive independent readings; attendance at and participation in research seminars at the CCEB, CVI, DCM, and PACCD; plus the completion of an independent research project. Specifically, the program is designed to: (1) provide in-depth knowledge of the research techniques appropriate to clinical research; (2) provide research experience with mentors in clinical epidemiology and cardiovascular and pulmonary research; and (3) bring together faculty and fellows in the CCEB, CVI, DCM, and PACCD. Trainees matriculate in the Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology (MSCE) degree program. Strengths of the ongoing program, Cardiology and Pulmonary Research Training, are the long history of successful research training programs in the CCEB, DCM, and PACCD; the newly created CVI; the collaborative links that have been forged among these programs; the comprehensive course offerings and research programs that are available to trainees; and an extensive set of experienced program directors and faculty preceptors with successful training records. In addition, the availability of the broad range of rich expertise of the faculties in the-CCEB, DCM, CVI, and PACCD; numerous existing large databases available to these groups that can be used for research projects and training; a broad array of specialized analytic capabilities available for clinical studies (e.g., clinical trials, case-control, cohort research, etc.); and the faculties' commitment to collaborative research and training, combine to provide an ideal environment for this training program.

Areas of Special Emphasis

This training program is for clinicians in cardiovascular and pulmonary clinical research. The training program provides trainees with opportunities to develop expertise in the broadly defined discipline of clinical epidemiology (e.g., randomized trials, cohort studies, case-control studies) and apply this expertise to research in cardiovascular and pulmonary medicine. The program includes types of research usually performed in epidemiology departments of schools of public health, plus clinical decision making, outcomes research, and clinical economics, as the methods of epidemiology are exactly those methods that clinicians and others need to learn to be able to perform rigorous clinical research, i.e., research involving people and populations. The mission of this training program is to prepare clinicians who have completed their clinical training in a relevant medical specialty (e.g., General Internal, Cardiovascular, or Pulmonary Medicine) for successful careers as independent academic clinical investigators capable of integrating the methods and skills of clinical epidemiology with their clinical expertise to address research issues in the etiology, prognosis, prevention and early detection, treatment, clinical economics, technology assessment, medical decision making, and quality of patient care of cardiovascular or pulmonary diseases.

Type of Training: Post-doctoral

Key Faculty Available as Preceptors

Biostatistics Preceptor: Provide biostatistics advice, primarily on an as-needed basis during all phases of the research project, particularly during the protocol development and data analysis phases.

Content Preceptor: Provide clinical content-specific advice throughout the trainee’s course of study, and particularly on clinical matters that relate to the development and conduct of the research project.

Methodologic Preceptor: Provide general academic advice, methodologic and other study design advice, career advice, quality of life; meet weekly.

Steven Albeida, MD, Professor of Medicine. Content.

Evaline Alessandrini, MD, MSCE, Associate Professor of Pediatrics. Methodologic.

David Asch, MD, MBA, Professor of Medicine and Health Care Management and Economics. Methodologic.

Scarlett Bellamy, ScD, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics. Biostatistics.

Warren Bilker, PhD, Associate Professor of Biostatistics. Biostatistics.

Zhen Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics. Biostatistics.

Jason Christie, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology. Methodologic, Content.

Dennis Durbin, MD, MSCE, Associate Professor of pediatrics and Epidemiology. Methodologic.

John Farrar, MD, MSCE, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Assistant Professor of Anesthesia (Secondary). Methodologic.

Harold Feldman, MD, MSCE, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology. Methodologic.

Garret FitzGerald, MD, DSc, Professor of medicine and Pharmacology. Content.

Nataka Gooneratne, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor. Methodologic, Content.

Robert Kotloff, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine. Content.

Shiriki Kumanyika, PhD, MPH, Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Dean for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Methodologic.

Samuel Kuna, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine. Content.

J. Richard Landis, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics and Statistics. Biostatistics.

Paul Lanken, MD, Professor of Medicine. Content.

James Lewis, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology. Methodologic.

Hongzhe Li, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics. Biostatistics.

A. Russell Localio, JD, MPH, MS, MA, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics. Biostatistics.

David Margolis, MD, MSCE, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology. Methodologic.

Kenneth Margulies, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine. Content.

Joshua Metlay, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology. Methodologic.

Nandita Mitra, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics. Biostatistics.

Allan Pack, MBChB, PhD, Professor of Medicine. Content.

Harold Palevsky, MD, Professor of Medicine. Content.

Reynold Panettieri, MD, Professor of Medicine. Content.

Daniel Rader, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology, and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Content.

Timothy Rebbeck, PhD, Professor. Methodologic.

Muredach Reilly, MBBCh, BSc Pharm, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology. Content.

Frederick Samaha, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine. Content.

Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor. Methodologic.

J. Sanford Schwartz, MD, Professor. Methodologic.

Jeffrey Silber, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology. Methodologic.

Daniel Sterman, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine. Content.

Nicolas Stettler, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology. Biostatistics.

Martin St. John Sutton, MBBS, MRCP, FRCP, Professor of Medicine. Content.

Mahlet Tadesse, ScD, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics. Biostatistics.

Sankey Williams, MD, Professor of General Internal Medicine. Methodologic.

Last updated: January, 2009