Contents
Critical Resources
An Eye to the Future: Training the Next Generation of Researchers
MOVING INTO PRACTICAL FIELD EXPERIENCE
The many roles of a translational researcher include bringing innovations into communities as well as determining the health needs of people in the community and how best to address them. This step, however, requires a set of skills that are not often taught in traditional courses. "In medical school, the focus is on the patient, on the one-to-one encounter between the patient and physician," said Cynthia Morris, director of education and career development at the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute of Oregon Health & Science University — another CTSA consortium member.
The Master of Clinical Research program was designed to provide instruction to a broad spectrum of researchers — from graduate and medical students to full professors and practicing physicians. "Everyone has a different take on what they are learning based on their background and experience," Morris said. "That means that they all can learn from one another. They get used to the idea of working together in teams."
The unique aspect of the program is that half of it focuses on teaching core competencies, whereas the other half allows students to pick and choose from a variety of courses based on their interests and career goals. Many of these "electives" have a strong focus on community-based research. "At least half of the students who go through our program are here because they want to learn how to do community-based research," Morris said. "In other words, how to translate findings of lab research into practice and then into populations."
Cynthia Morris (seen here on the right) directs the Clinical Research Education program at the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI) of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). In this photo, Morris is working with Melanie Gillingham, an early-career investigator who completed the Clinical Research Education program as a postdoctoral fellow at OHSU. Gillingham now has an OCTRI pilot grant and is also funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. She mentors medical students on their first research projects. Photo courtesy of Kent Anderson.
That was certainly the case for Rachel Solotaroff. After completing her medical degree and residency, she wanted to do research with underserved populations. "But I did not know how to go about it," she recalled. She initially enrolled in a master's program and took several courses in fundamental epidemiology and statistics — skills she was lacking. She also participated in an interactive course that taught her how to prepare a grant application. "That course was really fundamental," Solotaroff said. "I did not know how to formulate a research question. I was not trained to think like a researcher. It is not something that came naturally to me. But that course really taught me how to do it."
As a result, she was able to write a successful application to a fellowship that allowed her to study how patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cope with self-managing their own health care with sporadic or no health insurance coverage. After spending two years on this research project, she became the medical director at Central City Concern, a social-service agency based in downtown Portland that provides medical, housing and employment assistance to a predominantly homeless population, including many individuals addicted to drugs.
In her new position, Solotaroff is constantly confronted with a slew of questions related to the relationship between homelessness, addiction and health that she would like to systematically study. "Some of the questions I have come from things I see every day: 'How do you manage chronic pain in people with addiction?' Or 'How do you cope with the rapid weight gain and obesity in early withdrawal?'" She is confident she will be able to embark on such studies because of the training she received during her master's program. "I also made many contacts with researchers at Oregon Health & Science University," Solotaroff said. "I will be contacting some of those researchers to establish collaborations."
THE FULL RANGE OF TRAINING
Advances in biomedical research, computer science and informatics, and imaging and other technologies are providing unprecedented opportunities to improve human health. Yet transforming those advances into practical benefits for patients and communities requires a broad range of knowledge and skills specific to translational research. Such knowledge and skills are best acquired through carefully planned and innovative programs that incorporate didactic courses; hands-on experiences; mentorship; and participation in large, interdisciplinary teams. The training programs designed by CTSA institutions incorporate these components and give the new investigators sufficient flexibility to embark on individualized career pathways.
