Applications Being Accepted for 2009
Transplant Clinical Research Training Course 

The ASBMT Clinical Research Training Course for fellows-in-training and junior faculty will return this year to Park City, Utah.  Applications are being accepted through April 1 for the course that will be held July 15-20.

Tuition, travel, housing and meal expenses will be paid by the society and corporate sponsors for 12 scholars to attend the course.  Participants will be competitively selected.  Preference will be given to fellows and faculty with no more than two years of BMT experience following training or a faculty appointment.

The course directors are Nelson Chao, MD, of Duke University and Stella Davies, MD, PhD, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Objectives and Curriculum

The ASBMT Board of Directors created the course in 2006 because of concerns that clinical fellowship programs don’t adequately cover the principles of research and how to take findings from the laboratory to the clinic.  The course helps close the gap by addressing those deficiencies.  

The course includes formal presentations and extensive follow-up dialogue and small-group discussion, covering topics such as:

·         Research subject eligibility and recruitment

·         Clinical trial design

·         Biostatistics

·         Data management and quality control

·         Study endpoints

·         Late effects and quality of life

·         Clinical pharmacology, including polypharmacy and drug interactions

·         Regulatory compliance

·         Relationships with pharmaceutical companies and third-party payers

·         Opportunities for grants and clinical research training

·         Grant writing

·         Working with a mentor

·         Translational trials

·         Working with laboratory investigators

·         Research ethics

·         Subject safety

Each participant will be expected to have a research project that can be developed in discussions with faculty and with peers.

Faculty

The faculty for the course will be established investigators, participating for multiple days to work with and mentor the trainees.

The faculty members are expected to share their career stories and anecdotes.  They will tell how they got where they are and the lessons learned along with way. 

Free time for rest, recreation and creative thinking will be built into the schedule.

Eligibility and Application

An applicant must be an ASBMT member or sponsored by an ASBMT member.  For purposes of this program, “junior faculty” is defined as two years or less teaching in the BMT field.  

A 2-5 page letter of application is required, providing the applicant’s background, training, interest in blood and marrow transplantation and clinical research, career goals and an outline of a research project to be further developed during the course. 

Details of the proposed research project should be a major portion of the application letter.  The applicant must have a local mentor with whom to work in implementation of the research project after the course. 

Applicant selection will be based on curriculum vitae, proposed project, local mentor and, all other things being equal, regional representation. 

Send letter of application to:

     ASBMT Transplant Clinical Research Training Course
     85 West Algonquin Road, Suite 550

     Arlington Heights, IL  60005

Applicant selections will be announced on or about April 15.  The training course at the Park City Hotel will begin on Wednesday evening, July 15, and conclude at noon on Monday, July 20.