VCRC-VF Fellowship

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Training new investigators is a core mission of the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC) and of high-priority to the Vasculitis Foundation (VF). The VCRC-VF Fellowship Program has been extremely successful. During the two initial 5-year grant periods, the VCRC recruited and provided salary support for 9 VCRC Fellows for two-year structured fellowships, all of whom remain in academic medicine, are specifically focused on caring for patients with vasculitis, and are engaged in clinical research in vasculitis. The VCRC-VF Fellowship is a structured, mentored training program of up to two years for physician-investigators who have developed an interest in vasculitis and wish to pursue a period of specialized training with an emphasis on translational and patient-oriented clinical investigation. The trainee undertakes the fellowship at one of the VCRC clinical research sites. Fellows who have developed an interest in vasculitis are recruited from Rheumatology, Nephrology, Pulmonology, Neurology, Vascular Medicine/Cardiology or other subspecialties. The Fellowship involves conduct of hypothesis-based clinical research in vasculitis, limited clinical experience focused on care of patients with vasculitis, and coursework directed at acquiring advanced skills in clinical research methodology. We propose to maintain the same careful approach to applicant selection and comprehensive training we have refined in the past decade, but will expand the number of Fellows and the number of VCRC Centers eligible to host VCRC Fellows. The VCRC-VF Fellowship will have additional generous financial support from the VF. The VCRC-VF Fellowship addresses the need to train more physicians in the care of patients with vasculitis and to develop a new generation of vasculitis clinical investigators.