Forum for Students Focuses on Clinical
Research Advances, Opportunities
Nearly 350 medical and dental students from 78 U.S. academic medical
centers visited the National Institutes of Health Nov. 6-7 for
the sixth annual Clinical Investigator Student Trainee Forum in
Bethesda, Md.
"This forum offers the next generation of clinician-scientists
an intensive educational experience that will help prepare them
for careers in clinical and translational research that will lead
to medical discoveries," said John I. Gallin, M.D., director
of the NIH Clinical Center and host of the forum. "Experts
from across NIH and the nation will cover biomedical advances and
address practical aspects of career development in clinical research,
including the importance of mentoring." Attendees will also
get an in-depth look at the NIH Clinical Center, the clinical research
hospital at NIH.
The keynote speaker was Ralph Snyderman, M.D., chancellor emeritus
at Duke University and James B. Duke professor of medicine. Dr.
Snyderman was dean of the medical school at Duke from 1989-1998
and oversaw the development of the Duke University Health System,
serving as its first president and chief executive officer.
Illustrating the importance of mentoring in students' training
in clinical research, one session referenced a multi-year clinical
research study on tuberculosis conducted in South Africa. Gerald
H. Friedland, M.D., professor of medicine, epidemiology, and public
health at Yale University School of Medicine, is the lead investigator
and was a member of a panel that included four of his protégées
at various stages in their training. "The work done by members
of the Friedland team is an excellent example of how senior clinicians
nurture and enrich their students' educational experiences," noted
Frederick P. Ognibene, M.D., director of the Office of Clinical
Research Training and Medical Education at the Clinical Center.
Student participants included Howard Hughes Medical Institute
(HHMI)-NIH research scholars and HHMI medical fellows; Doris Duke
Charitable Foundation clinical research fellows; students sponsored
by National Center for Research Resources /Clinical and Translational
Science Awards programs; NIH Clinical Research Training Program
fellows; Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation fellows; Applied
Epidemiology Fellowship participants at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention; Fogarty International Clinical Research
Scholars; and the NIH M.D./Ph.D. Partnership Training Program fellows.
The NIH Clinical Center (CC) is the clinical research hospital
for the National Institutes of Health. Through clinical research,
physician-investigators translate laboratory discoveries into better
treatments, therapies and interventions to improve the nation's
health. For more information, visit http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's
Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers
and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic,
clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates
the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.
For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov. |