Brown-Bag Meeting Set on Mentored Clinical Research Training Program

A brown-bag informational meeting on UC Davis Health System’s Mentored Clinical Research Training Program will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 11, from noon to 1 p.m., at La Bou restaurant, room 1104.

Now accepting applications for 2006, the MCRTP is part of an ongoing effort to train individuals to conduct patient-oriented, clinical and translational research with full understanding of the best scientific, ethical, regulatory and management practices. The multidisciplinary, mentored research environment offers practical laboratory experience coupled with communication and collaboration skills and techniques for optimizing team-based, patient-oriented research.

The MCRTP is designed to attract senior residents and junior faculty committed to careers in pre-clinical/translational and clinical research. The program is open to individuals already at UC Davis Health System and to new recruits, as well as candidates from the health system's collaborative partnerships with the School of Veterinary Medicine, the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the Division of Biological Sciences and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The program involves three core elements: instruction in essential clinical research skills, mentored research activities, and "special experiences" that include small workshops, seminars and retreats.

The educational curriculum is intended to teach trainees a basic set of knowledge and skills that every clinical researcher should possess, regardless of the nature of the study. Among these skills are an understanding of research design and epidemiological methods, biostatistics, scientific methods, grant writing and research communication. The curriculum starts with an intensive, three-month summer program.

The application deadline for the MCRTP in 2006 is March 1.