Educating Physician Scientists in Psychiatry (EPSP): Firing up the next generation of translational and clinical neuroscientists

Project Abstract In this renewal of the Educating Physician Scientists in Psychiatry (EPSP) program at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), we aim to build on our successes in intensively recruiting, mentoring, and training physician scientists in psychiatry (PSPs) beginning early in clinical residency to facilitate rapid, successful career progression. Penn EPSP will capitalize on the rich scientific environment at Penn to train outstanding and diverse PSPs. Our goal is to recruit medical graduates with demonstrated research experience and commitment into careers in psychiatric and neuroscience research. EPSP will be guided by three principles: the centrality of mentorship to research success, the critical need to recruit the best trainees with attention to diversity, and the importance of training that is both rigorous and ethical. EPSP provides increasing protected research time during residency training starting with 10% time in year 1, culminating in 70-80% in the 4th and final year. Simultaneously, EPSP provides time for formal research education, with intensive focus on research methodologies, career development, and grant proposal development and writing. Trainees have the opportunity to obtain pilot funding, providing the ultimate hands-on experience, from research design to data collection, and to analysis and preparation for publication or presentation. Key EPSP objectives are to intensively mentor PSPs as they embark on integrated research and clinical training; enhance the diversity of PSPs and the scientific mentors committed to their development; and prepare PSPs for launching as independent investigators. Importantly, EPSP’s emphasis on the primacy of mentoring in the success of young physician scientists means that the MPIs will have significant mentoring time with the trainees to closely monitor progress and track the mentor-mentee relationship. Innovative hallmarks of the proposed renewed EPSP will include integration of clinical neuroscientist career development training across Penn Psychiatry and Neurology; strengthened alliances with other Penn schools/institutions to generate multi-disciplinary research opportunities for trainees; a new Grant Proposal Success program to maximize competitiveness for NIH K Awards and other extramural research grants; expansion of PSP pipeline diversity through national recruitment and partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities; increased availability of diverse mentors; and leveraging the unique demographic landscape of Philadelphia to create clinical and research experiences for PSPs that reflect the diversity of our community and those underserved by research and clinical care. Having garnered intensive research experience under attentive mentoring, trainees will be prepared to tackle the complex scientific challenges facing psychiatry.