ABSTRACT The overarching goal of the Emory Stimulating Access to Research in Residency R38 (Emory R38) program is to leverage the rich infrastructure and the interdisciplinary research environment at Emory University to provide > 12 months of clinical and translational research training for resident physicians in the field of infectious diseases, allergy, microbiology, and immunology. The long-term goal is to expand the pool of physician scientists engaged in these areas of research. We will foster an Emory R38 specific mentoring program tailored to the training needs of resident physicians; and build a systematic approach for identifying and recruiting a diverse cohort of resident physicians into the program. The Emory R38 program will attract trainees from our Internal Medicine Residency Categorical Track with interest in pursuing a career as a physician scientist focused on clinical and translational research. As a result of the size and diversity of the Emory residency training program, we have a highly competitive pool of eligible candidates whose research interests, skills and career development will be significantly enhanced by a program that provides individualized didactic and mentored research training by an outstanding multidisciplinary team of preceptors and will provide sufficient (80% protected) time to gain skills and expertise in clinical and translational research. Research training will be personalized, and the duration of training will be 12 months or more depending on the resident’s training needs and future career plans, while fulfilling all requirements for clinical board certification. The research training plan, which has been approved by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), will be spread across the last 2 years of the Internal Medicine Residency in protected blocks of >3 months; after the 3rd year, trainees will also serve 12 months in the Research Chief Resident position to focus on mentored research training to complete their research projects prior to beginning fellowship training. Research training addressed by the selected seminars, workshops, and short coursework for the Emory R38 program will include the fundamentals and ethics of clinical and translational research, practical research skill acquisition, effective communication, time management, understanding research funds flow in an academic health center, building a successful research team, job negotiation, identifying grant opportunities, and navigating an IRB and/or animal protocol, as appropriate for the research project. Preceptors with mentoring experience and NIH-funded research projects in broad areas of the target fields have been strategically assembled for this program, including applied immunology and microbiology, disease management, diagnostics, health equity, therapeutics, and vaccinology. Preceptors are offered mentorship training that includes topics such as practical research skill-building needed for research supervision and effective mentoring of physician-scientists, aligning goals and expectations, and mentoring for a diverse and inclusive biomedical research workforce.

Project Narrative The overarching goal of the Emory R38 program is to leverage the rich infrastructure and the interdisciplinary research environment at Emory to provide clinical and translational research training for resident physicians in the field of infectious diseases, allergy, microbiology, and immunology. The long-term goal is to expand the pool of physician scientists engaged in these areas of research. This goal will be operationalized through the development and sustained support of a structured research training program that offers an in-depth training in the fundamentals of clinical and translational research; fostering an Emory R38 specific mentoring program that is tailored to the training needs of resident physicians; and building a systematic approach for identifying and recruiting a diverse cohort of resident physicians into the program.