UIC K12 independent Clinical Vision Scientist Development Program

7. PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This is a competitive renewal application for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) K12/Independent Clinician Vision Scientist (ICVS) Program. The overall goal of the K12/ICVS Program is to align with the 2021- 2025 NEI Strategic Plan “to train clinicians (e.g., M.D., O.D., D.V.M.) for the scientific workforce to create more opportunities for translational and population-based research.” Our long-term objective is to promote training and career development of a new generation of clinicians equipped with the knowledge and career skills necessary to advance vision health and science for the next decade and beyond. The Department of Ophthalmology at UIC is among the leading institutions for eye care and research, ranking #9 in NIH funding in the last fiscal year (#1 among institutions in the Midwestern United State). Since its inception in 2011, the UIC K12/ICVS Program has fostered the academic careers of 12 Scholars. Their success is evident in 12 NIH grants and 17 non-NIH grants as PI and over 400 peer-reviewed publications. We seek funding over the next 5 years to train 5 junior faculty as clinician-scientists in eye research. Our short-term objectives build upon these strengths through ongoing program activities and several new initiatives. Ongoing activities include supplementing team mentoring programs with new training and tools, optimizing existing and new UIC partnerships, and augmenting our strong didactic curriculum. We also have three novel initiatives. First, the Diversification of the Sciences Initiative identifies institutional and other barriers to optimal academic quality of life among new investigators and pursues policy changes and program activities to improve recruitment, retention, and advancement of underrepresented minorities and women. Second, we will incorporate new curriculum content on reproducibility, transparency, and rigor, as well as the responsible conduct of research. Lastly, we will provide training on fundamental research approaches, opportunities for hands-on bioinformatics training, and experimental design for personalized medicine.