# UAB Predoctoral Training Program in Lung Diseases

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2020 · $249,622

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The UAB Predoctoral Training Program in Lung Diseases grant (“The Program”) seeks to
develop outstanding biomedical scientists for a career in pulmonary research. This begins at an
early level of training, thus we have designed our program to focus on predoctoral trainees (n =
3 per year, each trainee having a 2 year training period). The Program is structured to provide
didactic education, training and mentoring via three avenues: (1) specific graduate coursework
on the (i) biology of lung diseases and (ii) respiratory physiology, (2) pairing of trainees with
clinical mentors in addition to their research mentors and (3) weekly exposure to lung-specific
basic, translational and clinical research and clinical medicine conferences. Training is further
supported by numerous enrichment activities via the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational
Sciences and the UAB Graduate School as well as an annual scientific retreat. The Program
has 24 primary research mentors divided into three broad areas of lung disease, (1) pneumonia
and asthma, (2) COPD, CF and lung injury and (3) IPF, BPD and pulmonary hypertension, and
spans five departments and both adult and pediatric Pulmonary Divisions. These primary
mentors have been chosen on the basis of research productivity, significant grant support,
collegiality and commitment to serve as predoctoral mentors. The Program is closely monitored
by a Program Director and Associate Director, a Steering Committee, an Internal Advisory
Committee and an External Advisory Committee (the latter two of which are predominantly
comprised of current institutional training grant Program Directors). Additional requirements for
each trainee include creating an individual development plan (IDP), participation in a Pulmonary
Research Core Curriculum that includes emerging themes such as signal transduction,
bioenergetics, “big data” and computational biology and personalized medicine, and additional
coursework on professional communication skills and team management. A clinical perspective
will be stressed throughout the training period, which will be facilitated by a
pulmonologist/clinical mentor (n = 20) who will serve on a trainee’s dissertation committee as
well as provide clinical experiences. Finally, the Program has strong institutional support from
UAB that includes financial support for program leadership and additional programmatic
development. This Program will capitalize on the recent growth in lung research at UAB and
foster high-level training experiences to develop the next generation of outstanding lung
researchers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9964882
- **Project number:** 5T32HL134640-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** WILLIAM E SWORDS
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $249,622
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9964882

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9964882, UAB Predoctoral Training Program in Lung Diseases (5T32HL134640-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9964882. Licensed CC0.

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