# Training of the Pediatric Physician-Scientist

> **NIH NIH T32** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $308,071

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
 This is the second renewal application for support of the Pediatric physician-scientist T32
training program at the Washington University School of Medicine. Pediatric physician-scientists play
a crucial role in advancing knowledge that improves child health. To meet the ongoing national need
to replenish the Pediatric physician-scientist pipeline at the clinical post-postdoctoral fellowship level,
our program supports a mentored career development pathway for 4 Scholars per year for up to 2
years by leveraging a wealth of biomedical resources within the Washington University School of
Medicine, our Child Health Research Center and the Medical Center campus. As we have done for
the past 15 years, the long-term objective of our program is to develop Trainees that focus their
research efforts on Pediatric disease-oriented biology by applying recent advances in the basic and
translational sciences; such as developmental biology, cell biology, immunology, genetics/genomics,
and systems biology. The specific aims of this proposal include: 1) protected mentored research
experiences with well-established investigators encompassing a wide range of disciplines within the
Washington University School of Medicine and the Department of Pediatrics, 2) obligatory
educational programs in laboratory management, scientific rigor, statistics, grantsmanship,
responsible conduct of research, and biomedical informatics 3) individualized specific coursework
based on the Trainees’ areas of investigation, 4) continuous feedback to the Trainees, mentors and
program leadership, and 5) the development of Trainees who are women and underrepresented
minorities. The program, now fifteen years old, has an excellent track record by exceeding national
benchmarks (15-year T to K conversion rate = 52%; this cycle = 57%), and will ultimately close the
knowledge gap between basic/translational scientists and pediatric clinicians. Gary A. Silverman,
M.D., Ph.D. serves as the Program Director, and David Hunstad, M.D. serves as the Training
Director. The Trainees will continue to utilize our institutionally-funded state-of-art core facilities that
provide, for example, whole genome/exome DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, cryo-EM imaging,
genome editing and model animal development, to facilitate the study of Pediatric disease states. The
long-term goals of this program are being realized as its Trainees contribute to our understanding of
human developmental diseases for decades to come, while evolving into the next generation of
scientific leaders, role models and mentors for subsequent generations of Pediatric physician-
scientists.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9926292
- **Project number:** 5T32HD043010-18
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** GARY ARTHUR SILVERMAN
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $308,071
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2002-07-01 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9926292

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9926292, Training of the Pediatric Physician-Scientist (5T32HD043010-18). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9926292. Licensed CC0.

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