Letter from the Director
As we approach this year's winter holiday season, many of the courses and programs managed by the Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education (OCRMTE) are well underway. The NIH Medical Research Scholars Program fellows have completed approximately one half of their rigorous 12-month program. Our courses—the Introduction to Principles and Practice of Clinical Research and the Principles of Pharmacology—have had very productive starts. The Clinical Center Summer Internship Program has also begun accepting applications for the upcoming year. The OCRTME staff thanks you for taking the time to read our newsletter and sharing with us the continued success of OCRTME.
Happy Holidays!
Yours,
Frederick P. Ognibene, MD, FCCM, FACP
Deputy Director, Educational Affairs and Strategic Partnerships, NIH Clinical Center (CC)
Director, Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education, CC
National Institutes of Health
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NIH Funding Opportunity Announcement: Opportunities for Collaborative Research at
the NIH Clinical Center (U01)
In late November, the NIH issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for "Opportunities for Collaborative Research at the NIH Clinical Center" (U01). This funding mechanism will allow extramural investigators to establish collaborations with NIH intramural investigators in efforts to enhance the translation of basic biological discoveries into clinical applications that improve health. It will provide support for extramural investigators to take advantage of the unique research opportunities and resources available at the NIH Clinical Center.
Projects must have a collaborating investigator in the NIH Intramural Program and some of the research must take place at the Clinical Center. The budget, accordingly, will have funds directed three ways: 1) to the extramural investigator's institution; 2) to the intramural investigator; and 3) to the Clinical Center, to cover project-associated costs. This funding mechanism will provide up to $500,000 in direct costs for three years. The extramural investigator is responsible for submitting the grant application.
To review this FOA, please visit the NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices website: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-13-029.html.
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NIH Medical Research Scholars Program
is Underway
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| Figure 1: 2012-2013 NIH Medical Research Scholars Program Fellows |
The 2012-2013 NIH Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP) has officially begun. Since summer 2012, the 45 MRSP scholars have been conducting basic, translational, or clinical research with their mentors from 12 different NIH institutes.
The 2012-2013 class consists of a diverse group of 40 medical, 4 dental, and one veterinary student(s). Also, seven have had a previous training experience at the NIH.
In addition to the scholars' research commitment; they participate in lectures on seminal basic, translational and clinical research topics that highlight the continuum of discovery. The lecture curriculum developed by Dr. Bruce Baum, MRSP Director, includes issues in bioethics, science policy and emerging technologies; provides training in clinical protocol development and the conduct of human subjects research; and offers clinical rounds focusing on the research patient population in the NIH Clinical Center.
MRSP scholars have also had the opportunity to engage with research leaders through a leadership development workshop and networking opportunities. Each month, scholars meet with speakers from the NIH Clinical Center's Contemporary Clinical Medicine Great Teachers Lecture Series during an informal breakfast and discussion to learn more about the speakers' career pathways, current research, professional advice, and other information that has sparked their interests. They also have the opportunity to network beyond their peer group: scholars are enrolled in graduate courses offered by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences, and several have attended annual scientific conferences and meetings such as the Congress of Neurological Surgeons; the American Society for Hematology; and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Annual Meeting.
According to MRSP scholar Taylor (Nic) Snider, the experiences are working together to make for a great year. "It's nice to be around like-minded people who love science. That has been one of the biggest benefits," said Snider, a student at the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine." Also, I have a really great mentor in Dr. Martha Somerman and the post-doc I'm working with, Dr. Brian Foster, has been really phenomenal …I feel as though I am lucky by how everything has fallen into place here."
To receive the latest information, please visit the NIH Medical Research Scholars Program webpage: cc-od-ocrtme@mail.nih.gov.
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NIH Faculty Bring Clinical Research Course
to India
The Clinical Center and the Clinical Development Services Agency (CDSA), a component of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India collaborated to bring an abbreviated version of the CC course "Introduction to the Principles and Practice of Clinical Research" (IPPCR) to 126 attendees from across India from October 29 – November 3.
Six faculty from the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) joined Indian experts in tuberculosis clinical trials, community participatory research, and research ethics to augment the core course topics. The course trains participants on how to effectively conduct clinical research by highlighting such areas as study design, protocol preparation, patient monitoring and quality assurance. IPPCR is taught annually at the CC and to thousands around the world through long-distance learning technology.
"Our goal was for each attendee to go back to his or her home institution and feel empowered to train others in the process of conducting clinical research," said Dr. Frederick P. Ognibene, CC deputy director for strategic partnerships and educational affairs. Ognibene co-led the planning for IPPCR's debut in India with Dr. Harmeet Sidhu from the CDSA.
In addition to Ognibene, Dr. John I. Gallin, CC director; Dr. Jerry A, Menikoff, director of the HHS Office for Human Research Protections; Dr. Pamela Shaw, statistician with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Laura Lee Johnson, statistician with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine; and Dr. Clifton Barry, senior investigator, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, traveled to India to teach the course.
For more images from the course, please visit our Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/ccmeded [disclaimer].
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Resident Research Career Day Introduces Options in Clinical Research
The Clinical Center's second annual Resident Research Career Day on October 9 welcomed future clinician-scientists from across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States and afforded an opportunity to share information about academic careers with a focus on scientific research.
The Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education organized the event in conjunction with the National Graduate Student Research Conference and the annual NIH Research Festival.
"We hope residents will take advantage of this unique opportunity to explore advances in biomedical science, network with established investigators and clinical colleagues, and learn more about training and career development resources available through the NIH Intramural Research Program," said Dr. Robert M. Lembo, the CC executive director of graduate medical education.
Dr. Steven Holland, chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gave the keynote address: "The Unexpected Intersection of Mycobacteria, Lymphatics, and Leukemia."
Internal medicine resident Dr. Tara Berman from St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City said, "I thought that by coming here, I would be exposed to this fantastic institution and meet people and hear about how I could incorporate research into my career with the different programs and opportunities that are available to us as residents."
Dr. Sean Kim, an internal medicine resident at Hahnemann University Hospital-Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, added that he was excited to come to the NIH and see what was "behind the gates."
To learn more about the training opportunities available to medical residents and students, please visit our website: http://cc.nih.gov/training.
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2013 Clinical Center Summer Internship Program Now Accepting Applications
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Figure 2: Christopher Julien, Student at Howard University School of Medicine, 2012
CC Summer Intern |
Applicants are now being accepted for the 2013 NIH Clinical Center (CC) Summer Internship Program Clinical Center Summer Internship Program. The summer internship program is open to students in high school, college, graduate programs, and health professional schools including nursing and medicine.
Students work with CC mentors; participate in the NIH Research Poster Festival with results generated by their summer research; and attend weekly lectures presented by NIH investigators. All applicants submit a completed application, along with a cover letter, resume, and two letters of reference by March 1, 2013.
For more information and to apply to the 2013 Summer Internship Program, please visit the SIP homepage: http://www.cc.nih.gov/training/students/summer_internships.html.
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Upcoming Conference: Translational Science 2013—Increasing the Value of Your Research through Team Science
Mark your calendars for April 17-19, 2013 for the annual Translational Science Meeting in Washington, DC. OCRTME staff will be exhibiting at the meeting and will be on hand to discuss training opportunities at the CC, as well as the new extramural-intramural partnership (see U 01 article).
The meeting is sponsored by the Association for Clinical Research Training (ACRT), American Federation for Medical Research (AFMR), and the Society for Clinical and Translational Science (SCTS). Additional information can be found on the meeting's website: http://www.translationalsciencemeeting.org/ [disclaimer].
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