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In this newsletter, NIH Clinical Research Connections, we recognize recent honors bestowed on the Clinical Center, our alumni, and our programs. Please contact us with story ideas or feedback on this newsletter. As always, thank you for your support!
Clinical Center Receives Lasker-Bloomberg Award: Recognized for Training Excellence
In September the NIH Clinical Center (CC) was named the 2011 recipient of the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award from the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, an organization that has recognized outstanding advances in medical research each year since 1945.
Dr. John I. Gallin (pictured above, second from left), CC director, accepted the award on behalf of the CC and the NIH at the recognition ceremony hosted by the Lasker Foundation in New York City on September 23. The award honors the CC for serving as a model institution that has transformed scientific advances into innovative therapies and provided high-quality care to patients.
The award recognizes the CC for spearheading major advances in a wide range of medical areas, establishing an example for academic institutions across the country, and training thousands of investigators, many of whom now lead academic and research institutions across the world.
The Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award also recognizes the CC for excelling in training the next generation of clinical researchers. Many leaders in academic medicine came to the NIH and trained in the NIH Clinical Center over the past decades. In addition to and in support of continued scientific accomplishments, the CC has also taken a leadership role by training current and former national leaders in clinical and translational science. Many intramural scientists trained at the CC are now in positions of academic leadership, members of the top medical societies, and have had their research recognized by prestigious awards. This list of CC alumni includes six Physiology or Medicine Nobel Laureates and 11 of 133 (8%) deans of accredited United States medical schools. In addition there have been 29 Lasker Award recipients at the NIH, mostly for clinical research conducted at the Clinical Center.
For more information about the Lasker-Bloomberg Award, please visit the CC’s online press room: http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccaward.html.
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Clinical Center Hosts Inaugural Resident Research Career Day
 The Clinical Center (CC) hosted its first Resident Research Career Day October 17, providing 15 residents from mid Atlantic academic medical centers with an opportunity to learn more about NIH’s many opportunities in translational research and specialty training for residents and fellows.
The event, organized by CC’s Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education (OCRTME), attracted second-year residents in pediatrics and internal medicine, as well as residents in neurology, who are planning on pursuing subspecialty training or careers in academic medicine.
“It’s an opportunity to come to the NIH campus to see both the physical plant and to experience the Clinical Center, a 240-bed hospital totally dedicated to clinical research. Specifically, every patient here is a volunteer on a research protocol,” said Dr. Frederick P. Ognibene, OCRTME director.
“It’s our experience that when we go out to academic medical centers and we talk to them about…the Clinical Center, and they find out that it is actually a hospital and that it is a state-of-the-art institution, the eyes start to get wider and the questions start,” said Dr. Robert Lembo, Executive Director of CC’s Graduate Medical Education. “And then we’re able to tell them more about the research opportunities but also the training opportunities, which often comes as big news to them.”
The residents learned about unique opportunities offered by the NIH, including the ability to work alongside other dedicated researchers. Dr. Daniel Kastner, scientific director at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), offered a keynote speech on his work in genomics and autoinflammatory diseases. For attendee Dr. Janice Hobbs (pictured above), chief resident at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, that experience was a highlight of the day.
“It’s funny because I’ve read about a lot of the diseases that he was talking about,” said Hobbs. “And as he was going through, I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, he discovered this.’ That is incredible!”
For a video recap of the inaugural Resident Research Career Day and other events, visit the Clinical Center’s YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NIHClinicalCenter [disclaimer].
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Ninth Annual Clinical Investigator Student Trainee (CIST) Forum Engages and Inspires Future Clinical and Translational Researchers
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| Dr. Anthony Fauci (second-from right), director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) chats with students after delivering his keynote address at the ninth annual CIST forum. Each year, the Clinical Center and its partners convene medical, dental, and veterinary students participating in year-long clinical and translational research fellowships for a two-day meeting at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland with their peers, program leaders, and established clinical and translational researchers from around the country. |
Nearly 300 students representing the next generation of clinician-scientists met at the NIH October 20 and 21 for the ninth annual Clinical Investigator Student Trainee (CIST) forum hosted by the Clinical Center Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education (OCRTME).
The two-day forum offered a variety of scientific lectures, career panels, and peer-to-peer interactions for medical, dental, and veterinary students in year-long enrichment programs at the NIH and academic medical centers across the country. Invited student attendees included Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-NIH Research Scholars (Cloister) and HHMI Medical Fellows (non-Cloister); Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) Clinical Research Fellows; National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)/Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA)-sponsored students in year-long research programs; NIH Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) Fellows; Fellows in the Applied Epidemiology Fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars; and the NIH M.D./Ph.D. Partnership Training Program Fellows.
NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins welcomed the students and encouraged forum participants to take advantage of both the scientific opportunities offered at the forum and the time allotted for networking. “You all represented here contain all of the leadership of the future,” Collins said. “And the sooner you get to be buddies, the better for this whole enterprise.”
Scientist, activist, and public servant Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, delivered the forum’s keynote: “30 years of HIV/AIDS: A Personal Journey.” Fauci described why he enjoys talking about the subject to people at the attendees’ career stage. “I remember crystal clear the thoughts that ran through my mind when I was in medical school and as an intern and resident. Where you’re really excited about what’s ahead, but you don’t know what’s ahead. You’re trying to figure out what it is that has gotten the people who you may look up to, to being recognized figures in the field,” he said.
New this year were several breakout sessions that allowed the attendees to select from various topics such as managing finances, loan repayment, grants and private funding; rare and orphan diseases and health disparities research; global and public health; residency selection and success; research in community, academic, and industry settings; and team science. The forum also included networking luncheons where attendees gathered in specialty interests groups, such as infectious diseases, surgery, dermatology, and oncology. Students also learned tips and skills needed for careers in clinical research from four alumni of their own training programs, connected with professionals in their special interest areas, and toured some of the CC’s newest labs and clinical research units.
For more information about the CIST Forum, please visit: http://www.cc.nih.gov/training/cist.html.
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Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP) Update
The NIH Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP) is currently accepting applications for its inaugural year (2012-2013). The application deadline is January 17, 2012.
To find out more about the MRSP, please visit: http://www.cc.nih.gov/training/mrsp/index.html.
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Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) Alum Receives NIH Staff Appointment
 Dr. Sarah Kranick is continuing to make an impact as a NIH clinician-scientist. In July 2011, Kranick became the first CRTP alumna to join the NIH staff when she was named the chief of the Neurology Consult Service. Two months later, she was appointed as the Assistant Clinical Director for Medical Education of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
Her first NIH training experience was in 2003-2004 as a NIH Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Mark Hallett, Chief of the Medical Neurology Branch and Human Motor Control Section of NINDS. Kranick was the first CRTP participant to be selected from the Medical College of Georgia (MCG). After graduating from MCG and completing neurology residency training at the University of Pennsylvania, Kranick returned to Dr. Hallett's laboratory for a clinical research fellowship in movement disorders, studying the phenomena of volition and agency, particularly in patients with psychogenic movement disorders (PMD).
Dr. Kranick's current position as the chief of the Neurology Consult Service keeps her very involved in general clinical neurology, providing neurological input on patients with a wide range of underlying conditions. "Patients at the Clinical Center frequently have many simultaneous medical issues, such as immunodeficiency or immunosuppression, so when a patient here has a headache, it's never just a headache" said Kranick. She continues to work with Dr. Hallett's group to better characterize genetic, psychological, and other predisposing factors in PMD.
Her newest position as Assistant Clinical Director of the NINDS for Medical Education is especially close to her heart given her previous experiences at the NIH as a medical student and a clinical fellow. "I hope to bring greater visibility to the amazing experiences that students, residents, and fellows can have in the NINDS," she says. "I felt like a kid in a candy store when I was in the CRTP in terms of getting to talk to all of these PIs who are leaders in their fields, and I hope to encourage more students and trainees to take advantage of that."
Congratulations to Dr. Kranick and to all of our alumni. If you have an update that you would like to share in the next newsletter, please email us: cc-od-ocrtme@cc.nih.gov.
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