TRAINING CORE – PROJECT SUMMARY The NRSA Training Core TL1 submitted here is in conjunction with the 3 cores of the U2C in this combined U2C/TL1 submission. The TL1 will recruit and support outstanding and diverse scholars training in in kidney, urology, and hematology research in the San Diego Area. The TL1 represents a collaborative submission from 3 major academic research institutions in the region inducing UC San Diego (UCSD), The Scripps Research Foundation (TSRI), and San Diego State University. After a 2-year ramp-up, the TL1 will support 10 scholars (6 pre- and 4 post-doc) annually, with at least 2 dedicated to hematology research, 2 dedicated to urology research, and at least 1 from a pediatric background. The TL1 draws upon the outstanding pool of available scholars from the 3 institutions, collectively providing a very large source of predocs with a high proportion from URM backgrounds, and leverages the state-of-theart training (including two CTSIs) offered at the 3 institutions, combined with additional sources of scholars and expertise of outstanding clinical departments in KUH. The 61 TL1 faculty members have been carefully recruited not only for their scientific expertise in KUH, but for their commitment to mentorship, and balance in regards to focus of research across KUH, basic to clinical, from across the 3 institutions, and for balance by gender and URM backgrounds, to foster a training environment with considerable breadth from all perspectives. The TL1 is led by 3 MPIs, each representing 1 of the 3 institutions, and each with substantial mentorship experience and passion for training the next generation. Preliminary data for this TL1 comes from our recent successes in training post-docs in Nephrology (with recent completion of a highly successful T32), and in multiple recent successes in developing scholars to K awards and faculty positions at all 3 institutions over the past 5 years. The TL1 now proposes to coalesce these successes into a collaborative effort, supported by the outstanding professional development, networking, and administrative support from the U2C, to continue these successes, further deepen our successes in hematology and urology specifically, and to focus on training across all career stages. The TL1 has outstanding institutional financial support to bolster training for KUH scholars above and beyond what the TL1 can provide, and we have invested heavily in developing opportunities and local grants that can facilitate transitions off of TL1 support as the scholars complete their training. Supported by these resources, the TL1 will provide Aim 4 of the overall U2C/TL1, “to provide outstanding research training in nephrology, urology, and hematology to highly talented trainees who are diverse in terms of their prior scientific and medical disciplines of training, demography, and career stage.”