Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunity Training Program

PROJECT SUMMARY This application proposes the renewal of a post-doctoral training program in pediatric infectious diseases and immunology (PIDI-TP), based in the Divisions of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ID) and Rheumatology & Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine (WashU) and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The long- term objective is to train academic physician-scientists to carry out impactful research in pediatric ID pathogenesis and host response. WashU offers an outstanding training environment for physician-scientists, with nationally recognized hospitals anchoring one of the nation’s premier biomedical research facilities. Many WashU faculty, both within and outside the Department of Pediatrics, are field-leading investigators in infectious diseases and human immunology. PIDI-TP will also take advantage of extensive WashU facilities for genome sequencing and microbial genomics, as well as 100 other Research Cores. Our 45 PIDI-TP mentors, drawn from the Departments of Pediatrics, Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, and Pathology & Immunology, represent highly successful investigators with externally funded research programs and experience in mentoring physician-scientists. As before, the PIDI-TP Program Director (PD) will be David Hunstad, MD, the Arnold W. Strauss Endowed Professor for Mentoring, Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Microbiology, and Chief of the Division of Pediatric ID. The co-PD will be Megan Cooper, MD, PhD, the Anthony R. French Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Pathology & Immunology, and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology & Immunology. Trainee selection and program activities and outcomes will be overseen by an Executive Committee consisting of the two PDs and two other tenured investigators at WashU who are heavily involved in physician-scientist training, and advised by external faculty who are nationally recognized experts in pediatric ID and/or immunology and associated training programs. Each trainee will be advised by an individualized Scholarship Oversight Committee (SOC) comprised of established investigators with complementary expertise. The program will continue to support two postdoctoral (MD or MD/PhD) trainees per year, to be recruited primarily from our pediatric fellowship programs in Infectious Diseases, Rheumatology, and Allergy/Immunology, but also from Neonatology, Pulmonary Medicine, Nephrology, and Critical Care, drawing in particular on MD/PhD trainees in our robust Physician-Scientist Training Program. The mentored research experience, educational and career development activities for trainees are organized in three arenas: Pathogens, Host, and Omics. A core curriculum for all participants will provide training in study design, biostatistics, human subjects research, animal use and care, scientific writing, grant and manuscript preparation, genomics, and the responsible conduct of research. Career development will be monitored by research mentors, the PDs, the Executive Committee, and the SOCs. Program evaluation will rely on short-term and long-term metrics as well as input from external reviewers and from current and past trainees.