Learners to LeAders in benign Urology, benign Nephrology, and non-Cancer Hematology

PROJECT ABSTRACT Program Overview This is a single consolidated U2C/TL1 training program (the Learners to LeAders in benign Urology, benign Nephrology, and non-Cancer Hematology [LAUNCH] Program) that seeks to integrate, expand, and transform kidney, urologic, and hematologic (KUH) biomedical research training in Northern California. Based at four institutions with outstanding research resources and training accomplishments—University of California San Francisco (UCSF), University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley), University of California Davis (UC Davis), and Stanford University—we propose an innovative approach to train 22 (4 pre- and 18 post-doctoral) trainees annually across adult and pediatric KUH disciplines. We will identify and recruit the most promising and diverse group of trainees to enable them to conduct KUH research and provide these LAUNCH Program trainees with outstanding basic, translational, or clinical research training. Our overall goal is to establish a unified training program that promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and training of the most promising junior investigators across our four institutions. Thus, we expect that the LAUNCH Program will graduate scientists who are well- trained, able to compete successfully for research funding, and able to think creatively and collaboratively to generate novel and impactful science. The LAUNCH Program will be led by the U2C multi-PI’s (Drs. Elaine Ku, Marshall Stoller, and Kathleen Sakamoto) as well as the TL1 multi-PI’s (Drs. Chi-yuan Hsu, Philip Beachy, and Mark Walters), each of whom possess complementary expertise in research and research training within the disciplines of nephrology, urology, and hematology. The world-class training faculty whom we have included in our program were selected not only based on their own scientific and scholarly achievements but also their track record of mentorship and commitment to training. The LAUNCH Program is modeled after several highly-successful training programs at our institutions that have trained numerous exceptional scientists from a wide range of disciplines using a team science approach.