We recognize that many fellows enter our fellowship program with limited research experience. We have developed an immersive yet collegial training program to prepare fellows for a career as either bench or clinical investigators.

Fellows have a continuous 24 month training experience in the research program. The first twelve months are done as part of the ACGME-approved clinical fellowship, and the remaining twelve months are done in a post-doctoral fellowship. Most fellows are included as part of an institutional National Research Service Award from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, as part of our Pulmonary Research Training Program. This provides an outstanding opportunity for fellows to train with faculty not only within the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, but also in other Departments within the University. Additional support is provided through awards from private foundations and from industry. The Section has a SCOR grant (Specialized Center of Research) in asthma, a program project grant in asthma, and numerous R01 grants from the NIH. The Section participates in the ARDS Clinical Network (ARDSnet) and the IPF Clinical Network (IPFnet), both sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

The Program Director works closely with second year fellows to begin the process of selecting an appropriate research mentor and identifying a serious, collaborative research project. Upon successful completion of the clinical requirements, third year fellows move into our NHLBI-funded research training grant program. This funding, known as an Institutional National Research Service Award, or a T-32 award, is from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and provides us with the means to support a wide variety of outstanding research experiences. Our training faculty is distinguished and currently has 16 RO1 grants and a Program Project Grant from the NIH to support on-going investigation. Fellows are offered a 24 month training experience in the research program; 12 months comes during the ACGME-approved portion of the fellowship, and an additional 12 months is offered during a post-doctoral year that follows the fellowship.

Shortly before entering the research program, the program director will constitute a Research Monitoring Committee for each fellow. The committee will monitor and review each fellow's progress at six-month intervals. The committee is comprised of three faculty members, including the primary research mentor, and at least one senior faculty person from outside the Pulmonary/Critical Care section. The committee is charged to ensure that fellows are making progress in their work and that the two year research experience is productive and rewarding.

Basic science research training opportunities exist in the following areas:

• Airway immunology
• Airway pharmacology
• Ischemia/reperfusion injury
• Smooth muscle cell biology
• Asthma genetics
• Airway epithelial repair, apoptosis and remodeling
• Endothelial biology and function in acute lung injury
• Signaling mechanisms controlling growth and differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and pulmonary fibroblasts
• Costimulatory and accessory receptors in T-Cell activation and function in Th2-mediated inflammatory responses
• Genomic determinants of risk for and mechanisms of severe sepsis and acute lung injury

Current clinical investigations include:

• Sedation in the ICU
• Novel therapies for Interstitial Lung Disease
• Impact of sleep loss on endocrine and metabolic function
• Epidemiology and health services research of asthma and COPD
• Patient-ventilator interactions
• Statins in the treatment of acute lung injury
• Outcomes from critical illness
• Strategies to improve functional recovery after acute illness

The Department of Health Studies is the home within the Division of Biological Sciences for the fields of biostatistics, epidemiology and health services research. Fellows can pursue didactic training in clinical investigation during the third and fourth year of fellowship in conjunction with the Department of Health Studies through one of the three Tracks below:

Track I: Essentials of Patient-Oriented Research Course

The Essentials of Patient-Oriented Research (EPOR) is a series of integrated weekly lectures exploring specific topics of patient-oriented research held during the academic year. Lectures focus on methods for planning, funding, conducting, and reporting clinical research.

Track II: Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) Certificate Program

Trainees participate in a core curriculum consisting of successful completion of three quarters of EPOR (see Track I for details), at least one graduate-level biostatistics course, at least one graduate-level epidemiology course, and two years of the workshop, "Design and Analysis of Clinical Investigations." The second track culminates in a certificate in Clinical Research.

Track III: Master of Science in Health Studies

Track III culminates in a Master of Science in Health Studies and is designed to provide in-depth knowledge of the methods of biostatistics, epidemiology, patient-outcomes assessment, and health-services research. Fellows complete a total of nine courses in the University (six required courses listed plus three electives approved in advance by the Program Director), and complete a Masters paper, which must be approved by two faculty readers who will be appointed by the Program Director.

These programs can be completed in one year of full-time study, or can be undertaken in conjunction with the pulmonary/critical care fellowship, in which case the coursework may be distributed over a longer period.

Opportunities to train in other fields can be arranged with faculty to meet an applicant's interests. Joint research projects with faculty in other Departments and Committees within the Biological Sciences Division is encouraged. The section has a long and productive history of collaborative investigations with faculty throughout the BSD; this makes a wider array of experiences available to fellows.

The research laboratories within the section are comprehensive, recently remodeled, and suitable for many different types of work. The section has 14,787 sq/ft of wet bench space. Additional space is provided in the Respiratory Clinical Research Program and the intensive care units for clinical outpatient and bedside investigation. The University of Chicago has a Howard Hughes Medical Institute and numerous core laboratories for shared, major equipment. Extensive facilities for large and small animal research are available. Transgenic and knock-out mouse breeding facilities are provided, as are core laboratories for DNA and protein sequencing and for antibody generation. Post-doctoral fellows and clinical fellows work side by side with faculty, graduate students, research technologists, and undergraduate students from the College.

In addition to presenting their work to the research mentoring committees, fellows have the opportunity to present their on-going research in the section's Research in Progress Conference. Fellows often present their work at major national meetings, including those of the American Thoracic Society, Federated American Societies of Experimental Biology and the American College of Chest Physicians.

At the completion of formal fellowship training, interested clinical and post-doctoral fellows with outstanding potential for a career in academic medicine as a physician-scientist may be invited to remain in the section for extended training. This is done by arrangement only and may include a faculty appointment. The Department of Medicine actively sponsors transition programs for promising fellows who plan a career in bench or clinical investigative medicine.