Cambridge

Oxford

Award recipients participate in an interdisciplinary training program and a collaborative research project under the joint mentorship of intramural faculty of two institutions: the NIH and either Oxford or Cambridge University. Participants spend equal time in NIH and U.K.laboratories as they progress towards their degrees. These programs have succeeded in attracting excellent American science students.

Projects currently pursued span a broad range of disciplines, including neurobiology, genetics, structural biology, molecular biology, immunology, cancer biology, and clinical sciences.

To Be a Mentor

Intramural investigators in all institutes (including those who are not stationed at the Bethesda campus) are eligible to collaborate in the training of a scholar. To serve as a mentor, the principal investigator (that is, tenure track and above) must be supervising an independent research program.

The potential mentor’s first step is to contact investigators at Oxford or Cambridge (also tenure track and above) and determine areas of interest for collaboration.

Second, the mentor sends a brief description of collaborative project area(s), with links to the web pages and/or e-mail addresses to Andre Nussenzweig.

Nussenzweig can also provide more details about the responsibilities of being a mentor in this program. The next class of Scholars will begin laboratory selection in April, 2004, so it would be best to submit your collaboration prior to that time.

These investigator-initiated projects will then be advertised to scholars, who are encouraged to discuss them directly with the PIs. It is also possible for a scholar to create a course of study with a particular mentor in mind and initiate contact with that person.

To Be a Scholar

To be eligible for this program, a student must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident with a bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. college or university. There is also limited eligibility, determined on a case-by-case basis, for British students at Oxford or Cambridge universities. All applicants are expected to have had undergraduate preparation in biology, chemistry (inorganic and organic), physics, and mathematics.

Candidates should demonstrate outstanding academic performance and promise for a career in biomedical research. Previous laboratory research experience is also a strong qualification for this program.

Students already enrolled in medical schools, as well as college graduates interested in pursuing a D.Phil., are encouraged to apply.

There is also an Advanced Scholar track for second- or third-year graduate students in the biomedical sciences at Oxford or Cambridge, which provides support for additional years of graduate work to carry out research in an intramural laboratory at NIH.

This past summer, program mentors and scholars gathered at Oxford for the programs’ first scientific colloquium. Scholars’ work was showcased, and Nobel laureate Baruch Blumberg gave an after-dinner talk on his life in research.

For more information on the Advanced Scholar track or for other questions relating to the Oxford and Cambridge programs, contact Michael Lenardo, who coordinates both.

For further information on these as well as other new doctoral programs for the intramural program, view the Graduate Partnerships Programs web page.

The Duke program is designed primarily for physicians and dentists; it’s offered via videoconference at the Clinical Center and includes formal courses in statistical analysis and clinical research design and management.

Academic credit may be applied toward a Master of Health Sciences in Clinical Research degree from Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, N.C.

The Pittsburgh program is designed for Ph.D.s and allied health professionals (though physicians and dentists may also enroll) and spans three semesters, starting with an intensive eight-week summer session, the first five days of which are held at the university.

Participants can earn either a Certificate in Clinical Research (15 credits) or a Master of Science in Clinical Research (30 credits) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Applications for the 2004–2005 sessions of both these programs are available at the Clinical Center, Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education, Building 10, Room B1L403.

For more information on the Duke program and tuition, visit the website or send an e-mail; for more information on the Pittsburgh program, visit that website or send an e-mail.

MORE DEMYSTIFYING

FAES LATE REGISTRATION

The course is designed to help bridge the gap between basic science and clinical medicine and is open to all students, fellows, and staff, although it is designed primarily for Ph.D. scientists and students.

Individuals seeking academic credit may register with FAES. Those not seeking academic credit should register through the course e-mail list. For more information on registration and to see the class schedule, go to the website..

The FAES Spring 2004 Course Catalog is available online at the FAES website.

The catalog is also available at the FAES Scientific Bookstore, Clinical Center, B1 level, and at the FAES Graduate School office at One Cloister Court, Building 60, Suite 230.

Required textbooks are available at the FAES bookstore. The bookstore will have extended hours the first week of classes, Monday through Thursday, January 26 through 29, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

For more information, call 301-496-7976. FAES has a continuing need for classroom space; suggestions are welcome.

Organized by the the Center for Cancer Research–Fellows and Young Investigators Association (CCR-FYI), the retreat is always held off-campus and is designed to pull researchers out of the laboratory into a milieu that encourages them to present their research and interact with other scientists. Retreat events include seminars by prominent scientists in the field, oral poster presentations by attendees, and workshops geared toward fellows’ needs.

This year’s planned workshops are:

Negotiating skills for the job seeker

Being a professor: what you thought you knew!

Grant writing

Team science

A career panel

Keynote speakers are Stephen Lippard, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.; Robert Weinberg, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT; Shiv Grewal, NCI; J. Carl Barrett, director, NCI CCR; and Nobel laureate Stanley Prusiner, University of California, San Francisco.

To register, visit this website.

For more information about the CCR-FYI, visit the website.

Just over 3 years old, the CCR-FYI represents more than 1,000 basic science and clinical fellows, graduate students, and other investigators-in-training at NCI and is the largest organization of its kind on the NIH campus. Its goal is to foster the professional advancement of its members by organizing and promoting career development activities, assisting in the orientation of new trainees, and identifying employment opportunities in traditional and nontraditional career paths. The largest undertaking of the CCR-FYI is planning the annual retreat, which is organized entirely by the CCR-FYI steering committee members and funded by the CCR Office of the Director.

A program called "GuideDocs" pairs seasoned postdocs with incoming postdocs to help them navigate and acclimate to the NIH community. A weekly fellows’ seminar series gives researchers a chance to present their studies to a friendly audience of their peers and get valuable feedback on oral presentation skills.

The CCR-FYI Newsletter provides a forum for all researchers, postbaccalaureate to PI, to submit articles and read about topics pertinent to the CCR-FYI community. The CCR-FYI steering committee also welcomes ideas, questions, comments, criticisms, or concerns regarding the CCR training experience. Send an e-mail.

The speaker is Kenneth Korach, director of the Environmental Disease Medicine Program and chief of the Laboratory of Reproductive & Developmental Toxicology, NIEHS. Discussion will follow. Sign language interpretation will be available.http://www4.od.nih.gov/orwh/

The lecture is sponsored by the Office of Research on Women’s Health and the Integrative Neural Immune Program.

The series focuses on collaborative efforts to meet a national goal of "eliminating the suffering and death due to cancer by 2015."

McClellan was to discuss electronic health information, FDA-NCI collaboration, and the FDA initiative to speed the development of new drugs and therapeutics. The talk was scheduled from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. in Masur Auditorium.

Carl Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, will speak March 19 at 2:00 p.m., and Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will speak September 16 at 1:00 p.m. Both will speak in Masur Auditorium.

The lectures will be webcast, and sign language interpretation will be provided. For more information, or for reasonable accommodations, contact Kate Haessler at 301-348-1662 or the Federal Relay at 1-800-877-8339.

More information about the series can be found at the "director's corner."

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