ISB, Providence St. Joseph Health Launch Translational Research Fellows Program

isbscience.org/news/2017/10/23/translational-research-fellows-program/

Institute for Systems Biology and Providence St. Joseph Health are leveraging their respective research and clinical expertise to attract exceptional individuals into the just-announced Translational Research Fellows Program (TRFP).

TRFP is a three-year training program that offers early-stage scientists a chance to jumpstart their careers and provides mentorship from experts in systems biology and clinical research.

“This program is one of the first important steps in making a shift in research at ISB from conventional basic science to revolutionary transformational research,” said Dr. Lee Hood, senior vice president and chief science officer at PSJH, and president and co-founder of ISB.

Research project ideas include, but are not limited to:

• Using data clouds to optimize wellness, identify the earliest stages of transition from wellness to disease, and follow disease progression and response to therapy;
• Improving wellness analytics and validating wellness metrics;
• Developing molecular network models for drug discovery; and
• Systems approaches to addressing disease heterogeneity.

Candidates must be nominated by experts in the research community. Once nominated, candidates will be asked to submit an application. Upon review by a steering committee, remaining candidates will be assigned a mentor and will develop a research proposal, and finalists will be invited to ISB for interviews.

“We need ambitious, unfettered and creative individuals that think outside the box,” said Dr. Nitin Baliga, TRFP’s program director and senior vice president and director at ISB. “The fellows program gives unique opportunities for extraordinary individuals to create space where they can have seamless collaboration between complex systems biology research and clinical practice.”

In addition to mentorship, state-of-the-art facilities and access to faculty and clinicians from both ISB and PSJH, the fellowship appointments come with funding to support salaries and research-associated costs. Fellows are encouraged and expected to secure their own funding during the course of the fellowship.

“TRFP offers creative freedom unlike many structured postdoc or faculty tracks that have constraints that prevent early-stage scientists from doing out-of-the-ordinary research,” said Baliga.

“It will make the pipeline from bench-to-bedside broader and faster, so patients see the benefits of groundbreaking research much sooner.”

For more information about the Translational Research Fellows Program, go here.