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New program attracts next generation of translational scientists

by Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Susan Hamilton, PhD

Susan Hamilton, PhD, newly designated chair of the molecular physiology and biophysics department at Baylor College of Medicine, did not fully realize how popular the new program in translational biology and molecular medicine would be until an undergraduate student interested in it struck up an email correspondence with her before it was even announced.

Not only did this would-be student want to know more about the program, he had suggestions about how to make it better.

That, said Hamilton, is exactly the kind of person who should be looking at this new PhD offered through the BCM Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Unlike a traditional MD/PhD program that takes someone who wants to be a doctor and introduces him or her to the laboratory, this one takes a student dedicated to laboratory science and shows him or her how to make that work translate directly to patients. More than that, it encourages that already altruistic bent of most such students, she said.

"This is the kind of program that promises to nudge scientific progress up another notch," said Peter G. Traber, president and CEO of BCM. Traber's support has been important in getting the new program off the ground. "We expect it to be important nationally."

"We are excited about having this innovative training program that will produce a new type of PhD researcher with closer intellectual and collaborative ties with physicians in our clinics. We are grateful to Dr. Hamilton and her colleagues for developing this interdepartmental graduate program that promises to fill a national void of translational scientists," said William R. Brinkley, PhD, senior vice president and dean of the BCM Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Newly named co-directors of the program are Mary Estes, PhD, professor of molecular virology and microbiology at BCM, and David Huston, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Biology of Inflammation Center at BCM.

The perfect student for this program is bright with ideas of his or her own, Hamilton said.

"A student will come into the program and have an interest in a disease process," she said. "They want to change the world in some ways. I think this program will be a pull for these idealistic and highly motivated researchers."

The new program does not replace the College's already well established and highly regarded MD/PhD program, its Clinical Scientist Training Program where physicians obtain an MS or PhD in clinical research, the five-year medical students Research Track with MD students inserting a year of research into their training programs (see http://www.fromthelab.net/vol02/is2/03feb_n4.htm) or the Merit Scholars Program, in which internal medicine residents do as many as three years of research.

Instead, it is a new attempt to develop the kind of translational scientist who fits in to a national plan for research developed by Elias Zerhouni, MD, director of the National Institutes of Health, which he labeled the NIH roadmap. It is a guide to improving translational research overall.

"It is where science is going with the NIH roadmap," said Hamilton. "The idea behind this graduate program is to fill a void. We have at BCM a number of outstanding programs that train researchers in translational biology. However, many of them are targeted to go into medicine or basic science. There are not enough MDs going into translational research to meet current needs.

"Our thought was to begin with the students whose interests are research-driven and introduce them to the clinical principles," she said.

Disease-specific areas

To do that, she and her colleagues will build on the college's already successful courses in the BCM Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and add some of their own. In the first year, students will take courses designed to prepare them for work in various disease-specific areas that include:

Cancer
Genetic and developmental disorders
Inflammation and immune disorders
Infectious diseases and vaccines
Digestive system disorders
Endocrine diseases/diabetes
Vascular or blood vessel system diseases
Hematology: anemia, diseases of infection, leukemia and lymphoma
Thrombosis (clotting) /hemostasis
Diseases of cardiac (heart) muscle
Diseases of skeletal muscle
Respiratory system disorders
Renal or kidney system disorders
Neurological or brain and nerve disorders
Psychiatric disorders
Reproductive disorders
Sensory disorders

"Our thought was to begin with the students who are driven to do research and introduce them to basic clinical principles – the medicine side that our basic science researchers don't usually get exposed to," she said. "We want to add another layer in this design to train more translational researchers by sending PhDs in that direction also," said Hamilton.

Most of BCM's disease-specific centers and clinical departments have shown an interest in participating, she said.

"It's been an enormous response."

In the first year, students will go through rigorous basic science training and training in the molecular laboratory methods, she said. They will also take courses in human and organ physiology. At the end of that first year, they will choose two mentors – one basic scientist and one physician-scientist. In some instances, the two may already be collaborators – a common occurrence throughout BCM.

"Or they may have no prior collaboration and the student will be the driver in this," said Hamilton. "We are hoping this will facilitate collaborations and create a unique environment for the student."

In the second year, students will go on rounds with their clinical mentors to see the real problems physicians and their patients face. They will study statistics, ethics and the kinds of approvals they will need to pursue research in the clinic.

"We will begin a journal club where students will really discuss clinical issues," said Hamilton. "We are designing a new pathophysiology course that describes the physiology of disease states. Unlike the pathophysiology for medical students, it will look everything from the molecular mechanisms of disease to the clinical symptoms of the patient."

She anticipates that the program's graduates will become leaders, and leadership training is to be part of the program.

She hopes students will choose disease-oriented projects to pursue with the two mentors. They will collaborate with MDs who pursue clinical research, helping them design studies and perform the testing necessary to get the work into clinical trials.

"We know of no other program that has all the aspects of what we are putting into this," she said. "This is the first graduate program at BCM that is a college-wide effort."

The first students will enter next fall as the program's co-directors strive to fine-tune what already exists. She expects to admit six at first and grow the class size to 10 as the program becomes more successful.

"It can grow as large as the school thinks it needs to be," she said. "The students themselves want this program so much."

For more information on the program, go to its BCM website at http://www.bcm.edu/physio/transbio/index.html

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