TRIO NRSA Training Core

Today’s incipient and early career trainees in Kidney, Urologic, Hematologic (KUH) fields require training within environments richly populated by accomplished team-science researchers and adept, committed mentors. Trainees must learn sophisticated research tools while simultaneously completing didactic coursework and developing professional development skills. Coordinating these efforts will enable scale-up of high-impact practices to facilitate advanced skills among KUH researchers, and the direct gains of this training program will be realized most by the KUH patient populations we serve. Training the next generation of KUH researchers requires institutions and mentors to synergistically engage in research and training, in settings that support both trainees and mentors. We have brought together KUH researchers at three leading North Carolina (NC) biomedical research universities: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, and Duke University, as well as from three smaller NC universities with strong science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degree programs, NC Agricultural & Technical State University, Winston Salem State University and NC Central University. Together, this forms the NC KUH TRIO (Training, Research, Innovation, Outreach, or TRIO) U2C/TL1 Research Training Program. The TRIO Training Core has 3 objectives: 1) provide didactics and hands-on experience in rigorous basic/translational and clinical sciences research; 2) conduct research that includes adoption of emerging technologies and builds on the cross-disciplinary team science across the KUH mission; and 3) establishes and nourishes a community of scholars that expands and sustains KUH research. Multidisciplinary and team research skills will be developed under the Professional Development Core in conjunction with Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) programs. A connected community of TRIO scholars, that spans from high school to early faculty, will be built and supported by the Networking Core. Qualified and motivated TRIO mentors will train both pre- and post-doctoral trainees across broad, highly relevant KUH scientific specialties that span basic/translational, clinical, and technology arenas. Emerging mentors will be guided towards their maturation into well-trained leaders, toward supporting the longevity of the program. TRIO will exploit existing university training infrastructures and programs in biotechnology, public health, translational science, and clinical research. A robust admissions process with targeted recruitment will be used to select the strongest trainees, and rigorous program evaluation will allow real-time improvement in serving the needs of our KUH trainees. The TRIO program will leverage collaborative synergies and provide cohesive programming to train the next generation of KUH researchers and leaders.