UCSF-Kaiser Urological Epidemiology Research Career Development Program
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PROJECT SUMMARY Overview and Structure: The University of California San Francisco-Kaiser Permanente Northern California Urological Epidemiology (UCSF-KPNC UroEpi) K12 Program provides rigorous training, multidisciplinary mentoring, and career support to junior faculty developing high-impact epidemiological research programs in non-malignant urological conditions. Our institutions will continue to collaborate successfully to provide faculty with the mentoring, skills, and experience they need to achieve success as epidemiologic investigators. Scholars will continue to be based at UCSF and the KPNC Division of Research, both with robust scientific infrastructures, where they will be able to access an unparalleled set of data resources, including data from the entire KPNC patient population. The history of collaboration between our institutions and Program Directors will perpetuate our superb track record of developing future leaders in urological epidemiology. Training and Pipeline: This highly structured program includes comprehensive mentoring, rigorous didactic training, career development activities, and hands-on research. Each Scholar benefits from an individually- tailored, multidisciplinary training program, with available programs including a certificate program, masters or PhD degree program in research methods and/or epidemiology, mentored work-in-progress and career development seminar series, and diverse specialized courses. We have also identified over a dozen Research Program Areas in non-malignant urology that leverage the UCSF-KPNC environments' diversity, direct access to real-life clinicians and patients, and mentors' methodological and content area strengths. With UCSF's diverse array of training programs, including multiple earlier-stage research training programs directed at the resident and postgraduate fellow level, we have an excellent pipeline of future, diverse K12 scholar candidates. Program Progress: Since this program was launched less than four years ago, it has already been successful in identifying exceptional Scholars from diverse backgrounds and guiding them to success in epidemiology research. Our past and current UCSF Scholars have not only been productive in publications and research accolades, but have also competed successfully for NIH funding. Along with our recently appointed and pending Scholars, they also contribute to diverse perspectives in urological epidemiology research. Innovation and Impact: This program's innovative pairing of a top tier academic center with a learning and integrated health care system represents an excellent investment of NIDDK resources to catalyze the growth of urological epidemiology research in a uniquely fertile environment. We will continue to build upon our long history of collaborative, multidisciplinary research that complements other large projects supported by NIDDK, such as O'Brien, MAPP, and LURN Centers. Thus, our environment enables our UroEpi Scholars and their mentors to make unique research discoveries with important implications for clinical practice and public health.
