This is a new application for an Interdisciplinary Pulmonary Training Program T32, the Duke Program of Training in Pulmonary ReSearch to Promote, Engage and Retain Academic Researchers (PROSPER), submitted under a multiple PI plan. This program provides the opportunity for diverse, exceptional postdoctoral MD and PhD trainees to acquire state-of-the-art knowledge and research skills in independent investigation into the pathogenesis, treatments and outcomes of lung diseases. PROSPER is a fresh start for a program that has been centered in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine at Duke University for 36 years and founded on basic and clinical biomedical research approaches. PROSPER includes carefully selected, exceptional senior mentors from the Department of Medicine and Departments of Biostatistics, Bioengineering, Cell Biology, Pathology, Population Health Sciences, Psychiatry, Surgery, and the School of the Environment. We also include early career scientists to serve as emerging mentors to provide our trainees with most relevant, clinically- and scientifically-sound mentorship. Over the last 15 years, nearly 75% of our trainees continued in research-oriented careers, and many of them became independently funded pulmonary scientists. Prior successes notwithstanding, we identified critical areas for improvement, as a result of which we propose this new program with expanded recruitment efforts to attract talented PhD trainees, in addition to typical MD trainees, from relevant graduate schools at Duke and other leading universities. In addition, in PROSPER, we commit to increasing diversity of our trainees, thus began making concerted efforts in recruitment and retention of trainees from underrepresented minority backgrounds. We establish formal Internal and External Advisory Boards, comprised of experienced Duke mentors and leading pulmonary scientists, and create a formal review and feedback structure, which includes perspectives of internal advisors, external advisors, trainees, and the NIH program officers. We establish rigorous accountability structures for the development of research, academic career, and scholarship skills. These requirements include: to establish a mentoring committee, to create an individual development plan, to conduct rigorous research project(s), to write and submit several manuscripts, to present at professional gatherings, and to draft an individual career development grant by the conclusion of training. Each trainee will also participate in a structured didactic training program, including formal coursework, divisional seminars, lectures from distinguished invited speakers, and career development workshops designed to expand and deepen trainees’ scientific background. Our goal is to prepare the next generation of pulmonary scientists by providing each trainee with an individualized system of supports, which include thoughtful mentorship, research experience, didactic learning, career development skills, scholarship, and networking, so they can successfully establish research careers and obtain independent funding in a highly competitive environment.

This is a new application for a multidisciplinary T32 training grant in pulmonary disease which builds upon 36 years of pulmonary research training at our institution. The purpose of the program is to support the recruitment and research training of the most promising MD and PhD trainees in lung disease, establishing new pipelines of Pulmonary leaders. Our goal is to train the next generation of highly qualified, interdisciplinary research scientists able to translate new discoveries of basic science into the clinical sphere, to close health equity gaps, and to advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human lung diseases.