Friday, April 26, 2024
4/26/2024
This application requests a renewal of support for the UCSD “Research in Infectious Disease” T32 Training Grant, with an updated scientific focus and leadership. The program, now in its 40th year, supports the career development of physician scientists who wish to pursue research training in infectious diseases (ID) and host- pathogen interactions. The goal of the T32 is to recruit trainees who wish to pursue rigorous research training that will place them on the pathway to productive, independent research careers. Because of the complexity of contemporary biomedical research and the highly competitive funding environment (especially for early career research scientists). The high level of commitment to each trainee in terms of training duration and intensity, coupled with the multidisciplinary character of the training experience has attracted outstanding applicants and has enabled them to be extremely successful in progressing to the next stages of development of careers as physician scientists. Based on a recently completed strategic planning process, we have devised a new leadership structure, recruited new world class research faculty, kept successful educational and training elements, while incorporating innovative new offerings -- all galvanized to address one of the greatest challenges facing modern medicine and public health: the global antibiotic resistance crisis. Our renewal proposal for Postdoctoral ID Training at UCSD, which we retitle “CARING: Combating Antibiotic Resistance into the Next Generation” leverages the institutional investment and educational resources of a major campus- wide initiative – the Collaborative to Halt Antibiotic-Resistant Microbes (CHARM). We retain core elements of our training structure that have yielded excellent trainee outcomes, including recruitment and selection processes that enlisted trainee cohorts with significant diversity from URM groups, unique T32 Fellow educational curricula (e.g. the CREST program) and our Mentors-in-Development (MiD) program for junior faculty. The fundamental change to our program is the AMR focus of research training, organized in 6 themes: 1) Deciphering Microbial Virulence; (2) Host Defense & Vaccinology, (3) Novel Therapeutic Discovery, (4) Microbiome Science, (5) Systems Biology & Engineering, and (6) Clinical Microbiology & Therapeutics. We have selected a world-class faculty the top 29 leading investigators with proven mentorship skills to comprise our new Research Training faculty (12 continuing + 17 new). Instead of 6 MD fellow slots, we will recruit talented Adult and Pediatric ID fellows across 5 MD slots + 2 PhD postdoctoral scientist slots to encourage interdisciplinary synergies between clinical and basic scientists. Dr. Victor Nizet, an eminent UCSD ID Physician-Scientist (>450 papers) with a superlative track record in postdoctoral fellow mentorship (>20 former trainees now independent faculty running research programs) assumes the role of Program Director. The overarching goal of the training program remains to prepare the next generation of ID physician scientists for highly productive careers in biomedical research with local, national and international impacts.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
