# Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunity Training Program

> **NIH NIH T32** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $152,944

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
This application proposes the renewal of a post-doctoral training program in pediatric infectious diseases and
immunology (PIDI-TP), based in the Divisions of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ID) and Rheumatology at
Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The long-term objective is to train
academic physician-scientists to carry out impactful research in pediatric infectious disease pathogenesis and host
response. WUSM offers an outstanding training environment for physician-scientists, with nationally recognized
hospitals conjoined with one of the nation’s premier biomedical research facilities. Many Washington University
faculty members, both within and outside the Department of Pediatrics, are leading investigators in infectious
diseases and human immunology. PIDI-TP will also take advantage of extensive WUSM facilities for genome
sequencing and microbial genomics, as well as 100 other Research Cores. Our 35 PIDI-TP mentors, drawn from
the Departments of Pediatrics, Medicine, Pathology/Immunology, and Molecular Microbiology, represent highly
successful investigators with externally funded research programs and experience in mentoring physician-
scientists. The PIDI-TP Program Director (PD) will be David Hunstad, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and
Chief of the Division of Pediatric ID. The co-PD will be Tony French, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics
and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology. These two PDs also direct the Pediatric Physician-Scientist
Training Program (PSTP) at WUSM. Program activities and outcomes, trainee selection, and trainee progress will
be overseen by an Executive Committee consisting of the two PDs and four other tenured investigators at WUSM
who are heavily involved in physician-scientist training, and advised by external faculty who are nationally
recognized experts in pediatric ID or immunology. Each trainee will be advised by an individualized Scholarship
Oversight Committee (SOC), whose findings will be reviewed by the PDs and Executive Committee. The program
will support two postdoctoral (MD or MD/PhD) trainees per year, to be recruited from pediatric fellowship programs
in Infectious Diseases, Rheumatology, and Allergy/Immunology, as well as Neonatology, Pulmonary Medicine,
Nephrology, and Critical Care, drawing in particular on MD/PhD trainees in our robust PSTP pipeline. Beyond the
mentored research experience, educational and career development activities for trainees are organized in three
arenas: Pathogens, Host, and Omics. A Core Curriculum for all participants will provide training in study design,
biostatistics, human subjects research, animal use and care, scientific writing, preparation of grants, and genomics.
Trainees will also receive extensive ongoing mentoring for career planning and to prepare for subspecialty Board
examinations. Career development will be monitored by research mentors, the PDs, the Executive Committee,
and...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10413963
- **Project number:** 5T32AI106688-09
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Anthony R French
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $152,944
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-08-01 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10413963

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10413963, Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunity Training Program (5T32AI106688-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10413963. Licensed CC0.

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