Engineering into Medicine Faculty Fellowship/Mini-Sabbatical

Program Overview
This is a faculty fellowship program open to McCormick faculty members. The overarching goal is to accelerate novel discoveries and their availability for patient care by facilitating and enhancing collaborative innovation in engineering, medicine, and related disciplines. Upon selection, individuals participate in residence for a full (10 week) quarter in a Feinberg School of Medicine (FSM) faculty-led laboratory collaborating on a focused translational research project of mutual interest.  Faculty fellows will also have the opportunity to observe medical care and procedures in patient care areas with the goal of identifying unmet medical needs. Faculty with diverse research interests such as biomaterials, informatics, tissue engineering, imaging, robotics, operations research, tribology, etc., are encouraged to apply.  This program has the support of Dean Julio Ottino.

Program Description
McCormick fellows will spend four days per week on the Chicago campus (allowing one day per week to keep up with projects in Evanston).  Fellows will not be permitted to teach during the award period.  The FSM collaborator will agree in writing to the scope of the project, commit to working closely with the McCormick faculty member, and provide any needed laboratory resources.  Funds provided with the fellowship will provide release from teaching ($10,000 to the department for a replacement instructor) and cover related expenses ($5000 for parking, conferences, supplies, etc.).

Fellow Selection
Three faculty fellowships will be awarded each year.  Applications for the first three faculty fellowships (to be announced at the end of January 2010) are due on January 4, 2010.  These faculty fellowships may be used in either Spring 2010 or during the 2010-2011 academic year.  A second round of applications will be reviewed and awarded this spring for use in 2010-2011.

All tenured and tenure-track McCormick faculty with extramural research funding are eligible.  The Fellows will be selected by a 5-member committee chaired by Jack Linehan (McCormick and FSM) that will include McCormick (2) and FSM faculty (2) with a history of effective collaboration.  The committee will provide suggestions to applicants, as well as rank the proposals.  The Faculty Fellowship applicant will submit a brief (3-page) proposal, along with a biosketch of the applicant and the director of the lab the applicant will be joining and a letter of support from the applicant's department chair.  The potential impact of the project and the likelihood of its being successful and providing the foundation for a sustained collaboration will be the principal criteria used in evaluating the application. 

Faculty Fellowship applicants should submit a single pdf document containing a brief (3-page) proposal, biosketches of the applicant and the director of the lab the applicant will be joining, and a letter of support from the applicant's department chair.  The application pdf file should be sent as an email attachment to Jack Linehan linehan@northwestern.edu.

Engineering into Medicine Post-Doctoral Education and Training Program

The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS) supported by NIH funding is offering an education and training program in clinical and translational research for engineering post-doctoral trainees.  The goal is to help engineers become interdisciplinary researchers, thereby accelerating the movement of basic discoveries into clinical practice. Drs. William Miller (Chemical and Biological Engineering), John Linehan (Biomedical Engineering) and Lewis Smith (Medicine), lead this 2-year program, which includes a structured life sciences/medicine educational experience and co-mentored research (integrating engineering and life sciences/medicine).  The research experience will be primarily in a Feinberg School of Medicine (FSM) laboratory.  Candidates from all engineering disciplines - e.g. materials, nanotechnology, sensors, robotics, informatics, operations research, etc. - are encouraged to apply.  NUCATS will support the awardees in their first year.  The co-mentors (from engineering and FSM) and their departments must be identified and commit to a second year of support at the time of the application.  We anticipate selecting two trainees in each of the first two years of the program.  Applications will be accepted immediately with a deadline of January 4, 2009. The starting date for the award can be as early as February 1, 2009. 

For questions, please contact John Linehan at linehan@northwestern.edu

Details

Educational Experience: Courses and seminars, taken both years, are provided through the NU Graduate School (Master of Science in Clinical Investigation - MSCI) and the Feinberg School of Medicine. The trainees can elect to pursue a MSCI degree.

The two required courses are Scientific Basis of Human Pathophysiology and Responsible Conduct of Research.  The first course is taught by pathologist-scientists and includes 2 sections – a "toolbox" section, which covers basic principles of gross and microscopic anatomy, mechanisms of inflammation, host defense, cellular growth regulation, etc.; and a second section covering major human diseases with reference to basic pathophysiology at the level of molecules, cells, organs and whole body metabolism. A third course, Translation of Basic Science into Clinical Practice, is optional. Physician-scientists cover classic examples of how basic science discoveries have been translated into advances in clinical medicine as well as how clinical research findings have illuminated basic processes of cell and molecular biology. Trainees who want to earn the MSCI degree will take at least 4 additional Graduate School course units.  For those seeking the MSCI degree, a sample course schedule is provided below.  The required courses and seminars are in italics.

Post-doctoral trainees selected for this program are required to participate in two monthly seminar programs with K scholars and MSCI students. One focuses on career development (“Research Career Development”) and the other emphasizes preparing a successful grant submission (“Group Peer Mentoring”). Trainees are also required to participate in monthly Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) Grand Rounds. Trainees are welcome to participate in the Translational Research Incubator Program (TRIP) in NUCATS. Participation in the above programs will augment trainee interactions with clinicians and a diverse group of clinical and translational scientists.

Research Experience:  Two co-primary mentors, one from engineering and the other from an FSM laboratory noted for its interdisciplinarity will direct the mentored research experience. The research experience will be primarily in the FSM laboratory.

Clinical Experience:  Trainees will participate in a clinical experience relevant to their research program.  This might include accompanying physicians from the same research group when they see patients in the outpatient and/or inpatient setting.

Application: The application consists of a 3-page description of the proposed research and career goals, the applicant’s 2-page NIH-style biosketch, and a 2-page narrative detailing the applicant’s previous research and other experiences relevant to this program. A letter of commitment from the mentors should also be included. Applications should be sent to John Linehan at linehan@northwestern.edu by January 4, 2010.

Eligibility: Applicants must be citizens or non-citizen nationals of the United States, or have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence. Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Training Selection: The selection committee will have members representing both McCormick and FSM. The committee will review the application, and interview the highest ranked applicants.  The selection committee will review the progress of the trainees twice yearly at meetings with each trainee and his/her mentors.