Jan 25, 2006 Expanded ITN Scholars Fellowship Program provides intensive training in clinical research
Senior clinical fellows and junior faculty eligible for one-year fellowship program teaching clinical trial design and implementation
San Francisco (January 25, 2006) – The Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) has announced an expansion of its clinical research fellowship program for 2006. Additional “ITN Scholars Fellowships” will be offered in the coming year, and senior clinical fellows, in addition to junior clinical faculty are now eligible to apply. The program, begun in 2005, provides promising young investigators with intensive, hands-on training in the planning, design and implementation of clinical trials.
The ITN Scholars Program offers a unique learning environment for young investigators interested in expanding their knowledge and gaining experience in clinical research. ITN Scholars are active participants in ITN clinical trials from planning and protocol development though data analysis, as fully integrated members of the ITN’s Clinical Trials Group (CTG). The ITN’s CTG is currently overseeing more than 20 clinical trials currently in progress or in development.
“Direct, hands-on experience with clinical trial design and implementation is difficult for young investigators to acquire,” said Mohamed Sayegh, MD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chair of the ITN Scholars Committee. “ITN Scholars are assigned real and broad responsibilities in the planning, implementation, monitoring and analysis of real clinical trials run by leading clinical investigators. There is nothing else like it.”
ITN Scholars have the opportunity to develop an intimate knowledge of the scientific, medical and regulatory aspects of clinical trial design and implementation through close mentorship with ITN Clinical Directors. Working primarily from the San Francisco offices of the ITN Clinical Trials Group under the supervision of ITN Clinical Directors, the fellows also interact closely with regulatory personnel at the National Institutes of Health and with biostatistician and laboratory personnel at the ITN’s Tolerance Assay Group in Bethesda Maryland. Upon completion of the program, the fellows will have acquired the knowledge and skills necessary to develop and prepare documentation for clinical trial protocols, navigate various regulatory requirements of clinical trials, plan and manage single and multicenter trial implementation and monitoring in the fields of transplantation, autoimmunity or asthma/allergy.
Iftikhar Hussain, MD, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Washington University, who was awarded the inaugural ITN Scholar Fellowship, says the experience has far exceeded his expectations.
“It has been a wonderful learning experience and a great opportunity to master the A to Z of clinical and translational research,” says Hussain. “Creating new hypotheses and testing it by analyzing large data sets with the experienced ITN staff and has been most rewarding.”
This year, the ITN will award up to two ITN Scholars Fellowships to deserving individuals. The Program is open to senior clinical fellows and junior medical faculty. Preferred candidates will have a serious interest in pursuing a career in clinical investigation and have a demonstrated interest in clinical immunology in the field of transplantation, autoimmunity or asthma/allergy.
Applications must be received by the ITN by April 14, 2006. Additional details and application procedures are available at www.immunetolerance.org/fellowship.
About the Immune Tolerance Network
The Immune Tolerance Network is an international research collaboration that aims to accelerate the clinical development of tolerance therapies through novel clinical trials and parallel mechanistic studies. The ITN is currently planning, developing and operating over 20 clinical trials in autoimmune diseases, islet, kidney and liver transplantation and allergy and asthma and operates a dozen core facilities that support these studies with state-of-the-art bioassay services. Headquartered at the University of California, San Francisco and with offices in Bethesda, Maryland and Pittsburgh, PA, the ITN is supported by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. More information on the ITN and its research can be found at www.immunetolerance.org.
