Short Term Aging-Related Research Program

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Given the aging of the population and concerns over the physician-scientist workforce, it is imperative to inculcate the next generation of physicians with the desire to understand and improve care for older adults through pursuit of scientific discovery in the basic, clinical, and social sciences. The purpose of this application is to renew support for the successful Short-Term Aging-related Research (STAR) T35 program which has provided summer training in basic, clinical, and social science research for medical students at the Pritzker School of Medicine to inspire and prepare them to pursue careers in aging research for the past 15 years. The STAR T35 program supports a culture of scientific inquiry throughout the school, and inspires its trainees to pursue additional years for research significantly more often than their peers. The proposed program will continue to be led by Dr. David Meltzer, a physician-economist who is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and an NIA-funded investigator, including PI of an NIA funded P30 Center on Healthy Aging Behaviors and Longitudinal Investigations (CHABLIS), and Dr. Vineet Arora, Dean for Medical Education at Pritzker and an NIH funded researcher who studies sleep in older persons. They will be joined by two accomplished assistant directors, including Dr. Stacie Levine, Section Chief of Geriatrics and Palliative Care, and Dr. Sangram Sisodia, an NIA-funded basic science researcher in Alzheimer’s disease. Building on the established processes of the successful long-running Pritzker Summer Research Program (SRP) and the Scholarship and Discovery (S&D) 4-year research infrastructure, we request funding to appoint ten T35 sponsored students each year with an additional ten supported by Pritzker. A cadre of nationally prominent NIH-funded principal investigators in basic, clinical, and social science relevant to aging who together have more than $23 million in funding will mentor individual trainees. In addition, trainees will take part in didactic instruction in responsible conduct of research, statistics, clinical geriatrics and an innovative course called Scholars in Translational Aging Research Training (START) Program which will expose them to concepts in biology, clinical geriatrics, and the social sciences that are central to the study of aging. For nearly 15 years, the START course has consistently increased interest in aging research careers among participants (both NIA T35 funded and other). Through rigorous evaluation and long-term tracking, we will be able to determine if participants show a greater propensity to continue pursuing research as a career. This program supports the imperative to inculcate the next generation of physicians with the desire to understand and improve care for older adults through pursuit of scientific discovery.