CLINICAL RESEARCH CURRICULUM AWARD

The Academic Health Center (AHC) of the University of Minnesota proposes to expand its Training Program in Clinical Research with this application of the new Clinical Research Curriculum Award (K30). Involving all of the schools of the AHC (Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health), this multi-disciplinary program results in a Master of Science (MS) Graduate School degree in Clinical Research. The program draws heavily on the large and well-supported clinical research base within the AHC and a history of training successful clinical research scholars. It is grounded on formal classroom work in biostatistics, epidemiology, ethics, statistical computing, clinical research and other related fields. It requires a thesis based on an original clinical research project, an oral defense and a publishable manuscript. The program has a current class of 21. With- the support of this training grant, we anticipate a total of 20 trainees per year in a 2-4 year academic program. The program will enroll trainees drawn from all the clinical disciplines of the AHC which currently includes approximately 1,000 residents and fellows. In addition, recruiting of trainees will include national searches. Trainees have an advanced health professional degree (MD, DDS, DMD, DO, DC, OD, PharmD, or PhD in a clinical field) and have completed all or a substantial part of their clinical training. Rigorous admission standards and careful quality monitoring of each step in the training experience should result in graduates who are well trained clinical scholars and who will become contributors to the health of patients and the public. The curriculum is based on 7 learning objectives with measurable outcomes (didactic course work, grant writing and oral defense of a "hands on" project) with attention to 3 general areas (knowledge, skills and ethics).