Research Training in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This program has been constructed to provide a training environment that will afford trainees with all the skills needed to succeed in an academic career. This has been accomplished by assembling a critical mass of faculty with a broad range of research interests, and by creating an environment that fosters each trainees'development though intensive mentoring. The Allergy and Immunology Division is comprised of 3 full time and two part time faculty and the program in total consists of 18 faculty, including ten professors and six associate professors, 5 women and 2 minorities. These other faculty are based in Pediatric Pulmonary, Clinical Immunology and Pulmonary in the Department of Medicine, the Institute of Genetic Medicine, and the School of Public Health. The faculty are all well funded and solidly committed to this program. The program provides 3 years of balanced training in allergy and basic and clinical immunology to pediatricians, and in some cases PhD candidates. Prospective trainees are selected based on their commitment to and potential for success in an academic career. Each trainee spends the majority of his/her time in clinical, laboratory, or translational research, supplemented with course work and required clinical responsibilities. The PI/PD oversees all fellows and a single faculty member acts as preceptor for each fellow, supervising laboratory work and helping to select formal course work. Research opportunities are diverse, including clinical, laboratory, epidemiologic, and translational investigations in food allergy, asthma, and immune deficiency, as well as basic studies in both allergy and immunology. Course work includes both a core curriculum and elective courses, up to and including a Masters degree. Clinical training is outstanding and well balanced, with all of our graduates capable of caring for the world's most complicated patients. The program is based in the Division of Allergy and Immunology in the Department of Pediatrics and located in the Children's Center of The Johns Hopkins Hospital in space that was fully renovated in 2006. Space included 5 separate, fully equipped laboratories, 5 faculty offices, 3 administrative offices, a Fellows'office, a conference room equipped for teleconferencing, and offices for the division's 24 research staff. RELEVANCE: The importance of allergic and immunologic disease in children is enormous and growing. Allergic diseases now represent about 25% of pediatric "sick" visits, asthma is the leading cause of emergency admissions to the hospital, and food allergies now affect over 5% of children. The need for physicians and Ph.D.'s with expertise in both research and patient care in allergy and immunology is therefore greater than ever.