The National Institutes of Health has awarded Tulane University a $1 million grant to increase the number and diversity of physician scientists engaged in heart, lung, and blood disease research.
The four-year grant will provide mentored research opportunities and support for a diverse cohort of medical residents in internal medicine and pediatrics seeking independent, interdisciplinary research careers as board-certified physician scientists through Tulane’s Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) program.
Tulane physician-scientists Marie “Tonette” Krousel-Wood, MD, and Jay Kolls, MD, are leading the initiative to recruit and train diverse resident-scholars committed to research careers and provide individually tailored career development programs.
Resident-scholars in the four-year Tulane StARR program focus their research in their chosen field of medicine or pediatrics. For six months of each year beginning in year two of the program, scholars will have 80% protected time to concentrate on building research skills and conducting research with established research groups while keeping 20% of time dedicated to clinical care. The second six months of each year will be devoted to clinical training to ensure that residents have sufficient time and continuity in building clinical skills.
“Throughout the StARR program, resident-scholars alternate research and clinical rotations to ensure that they are proficient in delivering clinical care and in building their research careers,” Krousel-Wood said.
The StARR program is supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award number R38HL155774.