T32 Training Program for Institutions That Promote Diversity (T32 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Funding Agency:
- National Institutes of Health
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) provides global leadership for research, training, and education programs to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders and enhance the health of all individuals so that they can live longer and more fulfilling lives. The NHLBI stimulates basic discoveries about the causes of disease, enables the translation of basic discoveries into clinical practice, fosters training and mentoring of emerging scientists and physicians, disseminates and implements evidence-based interventions into communities, and communicates research advances to the public. It creates and supports a robust, collaborative research infrastructure in partnership with private and public organizations, including academic institutions, industry, and other government agencies. The Institute collaborates with patients, families, health care professionals, scientists, professional societies, patient advocacy groups, community organizations, and the media to promote the application of research results and leverage resources to address public health needs. The NHLBI also collaborates with international organizations to help reduce the burden of heart, lung, and blood diseases worldwide.
Current population trends predict that by the year 2050 nearly 50 percent of the US population will include populations experiencing health disparities that are at increased risk for HLBS diseases and disorders. Given the substantial need for physicians, physician scientists and others to care for populations experiencing health disparities, and to contribute to the study of diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect these groups, more efforts are needed to promote education and training opportunities at institutions with a documented historical institutional mission of serving underrepresented students and/or institutions that provide clinical services to populations that experience health disparities. These institutions are well positioned to engage populations with health disparities in research and in the translation of research advances into culturally competent, measurable, and sustained improvements in health outcomes. The goal of providing these training opportunities to the institutions defined in Section III is to encourage their students to explore biomedical research and consider careers in HLBS-focused research and related fields.
The NHLBI encourages research training and career development opportunities which cross disciplinary boundaries (examples: biophysics, biostatistics, bioinformatics, bioengineering, systems science, and big data science) to develop a new interdisciplinary workforce. Also of interest to NHLBI are training and career development efforts that focus on implementation research, which studies the optimal and sustainable delivery of evidence-based interventions. Novel strategies are needed to disseminate and implement "real world" interventions that produce optimal health outcomes, particularly in populations experiencing health disparities.
Dependent on the proposed training program, resident scientific resources, and personnel, applicant institutions may choose to identify and collaborate with a research center (medical school or comparable institution) that has strong, well-established cardiovascular, pulmonary, or hematologic diseases research and research training programs to help meet research training needs. NHLBI anticipates that this arrangement will provide each trainee with a mentor who is recognized as an accomplished investigator in cardiovascular, pulmonary, or hematologic diseases and sleep disorders research and who will assist the research advisor at the applicant institution with the trainee's development and research plan. NHLBI expects plans for summer training as well as academic year training to be developed by the student and advisor at the trainee's home institution in collaboration with the mentor at the research center. It is expected that the mentor(s) will guide the trainee through the initial training period and continue this interaction throughout the award. The development of strong mentoring relationships is essential to the success of the trainees and the program.
If the applicant chooses to collaborate with an established cardiovascular, pulmonary, and hematologic diseases and sleep disorders research center(s), arrangements must be completed before submitting an application.
The NHLBI T32 Training Program for Institutions that Promote Diversity's goals and objectives are to: (1) enhance training opportunities at institutions with a documented historical institutional mission of educating underrepresented students in research areas of interest to the NHLBI in the biomedical science enterprise and/or institutions that provide clinical services to populations that experience health disparities, (2) increase trainee competitiveness for peer-review research funding, (3) strengthen trainee publication records, and (4) foster institutional environments conducive to professional development in the biomedical sciences.
The proposed institutional research training program may complement other ongoing research training and career development programs at the applicant institution, but the proposed program must be clearly distinct from related programs currently receiving Federal support.
Application budgets are not limited, but need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.
September 13, 2024
Wayne Wang, PhD
National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-435-0535
E-mail: wayne.wang2@nih.gov