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July 2006
Children's Research Institute News Brief
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Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Executive Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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Inderjit Singh, PhD
Scientific Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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Pediatricians-to-be in the lab: Faculty development at its finest
Nurturing young clinicians in their formative years is the future of academic medicine, says Carol Wagner, MD, professor in pediatrics. And MUSC is putting support systems in place to ensure the success of these future researchers.
As associate director of MUSC's General Clinical Research Center (GCRC), Dr. Wagner is part of a 20-member, university-wide work group helping to develop ways to transition MUSC from a GCRC model to a Clinical and Translational Sciences Award (CTSA).
"The MUSC campus is undergoing a transition period that takes clinicians out of an environment of conducting research in isolation, and integrates them with departments campus-wide, making research more relevant," explains Dr. Wagner.
"That means that if someone has an interest in science- basic, clinical, or translational - there will be a university-wide infrastructure to support that from the very beginning," she adds.
As CTSAs replace GCRCs, institutions must create other, internal mechanisms to train future scientists.
"These mechanisms include National Institutes of Health grants such as K12s, K23s, and T32s; pre-doctoral training programs; and National Scientific Research Awards," explains Dr. Wagner.
A highly competitive grant, the K12 is awarded to universities to support mentored clinical research scholars, typically one to two per year. The K23 is an individually awarded, five-year mentored training grant.
Dr. Wagner notes that these grants were a response by the National Institutes of Health after it became clear that, due to sizeable debt, fewer residents were going on to fellowships or academic medicine.
"As a result, the NIH developed programs to provide grants for and to train physicians committed to a career in clinical or patient-oriented research," she notes.
"MUSC has a long track record of having K23 recipients, and is in the process of creating more K12s," notes Dr. Wagner, a K23 recipient herself. "The goal is to create a K12 in pediatrics so we can support young faculty right out of fellowship, enabling them to develop the skills necessary to be an independent academic clinician in pediatric research."
"These grants encourage us to nurture young clinicians in their formative years, to provide actual experience with those of us who conduct research," explains Dr. Wagner.
A K12 in pediatrics would solidify the university's research program, allowing MUSC to develop future physician scientists.
"It would make MUSC competitive in developing a network of independent researchers, further enriching the academic community here," enthuses Dr. Wagner.
The Children's Hospital and the department of pediatrics have long been on the path to multidisciplinary care, education and research. Drs. Barbara Tilley and Tom Hulsey recently won a T32 Roadmap training grant to support a pre-doctoral program in clinical research. On the horizon: increased K23 applicants as well as the development of an intramural K12.
"In addition to developing multiple mechanisms to enhance the application of novel discoveries to improve people's lives, we have to ensure continuity in research through various stages of career development and training," agrees Dr. Bernard Maria, executive director of DCRI and member of the CTSA Institutional Planning Committee.
Many students entering medical school, for example, have had positive experiences with research but then have only the summer after the first year of medical school to rekindle the joy of discovery.
"The challenge," presents Dr. Maria, "is to connect pre-medical, medical, residency, fellowship, and junior faculty stages of career development into a continuum, or critical pathway for gifted pediatricians-to-be."
"We're developing a cohesive front here at MUSC," says Dr. Wagner. "We must be proactive in developing a K12 program so we can have physician scientists for future generations. The physician scientist of tomorrow is being taught today. We really must preserve all the opportunities we have to support that."
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