Research Training in Alimentary Tract Surgery

Substantial changes have occurred in the practice of clinical GI surgery over the past decade, and, in addition, surgical research has evolved to now encompass a much broader range of available techniques and approaches. This T32 Program has been designed to train the next generation of academic GI surgeons through a focus on the wide array of investigative fields that are now being applied to the study of GI surgical disease. The enormous resources and talented personnel in the Harvard Medical School community have been leveraged to create a unique environment for the research training of our future academic GI surgeons. First funded in 1997 as a collaboration between the Departments of Surgery at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and the former Beth Israel Hospital, this program has been expanded to include investigators from all four major teaching hospital affiliates of Harvard Medical School (CH, BIDMC, BWH, MGH). We have made enormous efforts to break down the existing "silo" effects that exist in most research enterprises by bringing together investigators from various disciplines. Accordingly, this T32 Program is now comprised of four research tracks: (1) Basic Science, (2) Clinical Research/Outcomes (3) Surgical Technology/lnnovation, and (4) Surgical Education. The Program has been designed to bring surgeon-scientists together from these four different investigative disciplines, establishing a unique environment for collaboration and interaction. The Training Program Executive Committee (Zara Cooper, Allan Goldstein, Richard Hodin, Tara Kent, Mark Puder, and Ali Tavakkoli) will oversee the selection of trainees, designation of preceptors, prescription of formal coursework, and participation in programs teaching ethics and the responsible conduct in research. The Program is open to surgical residents or fellows in accredited U.S. Residency Programs. We are requesting a total of six trainee slots per year, each intended for a post-doctoral trainee for a two-year fellowship period. This T32 Program is therefore designed to provide intensive, coordinated research training with the goal of preparing individuals to become independently funded investigators in the field of alimentary tract surgery.