DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application describes plans at the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to train the next generation of leaders in clinical and translational research in non-malignant hematology. The breadth and depth of the hematology programs, along with additional resources at the University, provide an ideal setting for this career development program, which will be structured to cover four areas including: Hemostasis, Red Cell Disorders, Immune Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, and Stem Cells and Myeloproliferative Disorders. Experienced faculty members will lead each area and aid the Director and Co- Directors in developing a comprehensive curriculum in benign hematology. These faculty will serve as Primary Mentors, and with Secondary Mentors, will train scholars in their areas of expertise. In addtion, the program will utilize the resources within the recently developed Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics. The specific training goals of this program are: 1) To provide broad-based clinical training and exposure to all aspects of pediatric and adult non-malignant hematology; 2) To guide the Scholar in acquiring the knowledge and tools necessary to be a successful clinical or translational researcher, including training in biostatistics, epidemiology, clinical trials design, and in the responsible conduct of research; 3) To develop scholars with a thorough understanding of advances in basic molecular and cell biology relevant to their areas of clinical research focus, and in methodologies used in these areas; 4) To ensure knowledge and understanding of ethical issues in both basic and clinical biomedical research; and, 5) To provide close mentoring of the scholars with defined timelines to meet goals in education, research, and scientific and grant writing, and to provide positive clinical research role models in a supportive academic environment. The program will train future clinical and translational researchers in benign hematology who are equipped with a sophisticated background in basic science and clinical research methodologies. It is anticipated that graduates of this program will be at the leading edge of their research field and ideally situated to compete for further NIH funding and to serve as faculty members in non-malignant hematology in academic centers, training the next generation of non-malignant hematologists.