Rheumatic Diseases Research Investigator Program

About the Program

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskelatal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) funds Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grants (T32) to enable institutions to support pre-doctoral and postdoctoral research training for individuals in the fields of arthritis, musculoskeletal, or skin diseases.

Our Goal

Millions suffer from rheumatic diseases, with enormous economic/societal impacts. Research advances have illuminated a need for more research to enhance delivering evidence-based treatments in routine care and expanding collaboration with our community to improve health. These goals require changes to our approach and new programmatic directions to recruit, mentor, and develop basic and clinical investigators to implement important health advances throughout the region. To adapt our T32 program and innovate in a shifting ecosystem, we will continue to focus on earlier career predoctoral MD/PhD and PhD training as well as inter-disciplinary approaches which have the greatest likelihood for success. It also requires a new approach to training that emphasizes team science, community engagement, and incorporating dissemination and implementation science into the research plan. We will continue to emphasize recruiting and developing outstanding postdoctoral researchers (3 slots/year, amongst MD, MD/PhD, MD/MPH, and PhD applicants), and predoctoral students (2 slots/year, amongst dual MD/PhD MSTP and single PhD applicants), especially from under-represented groups. To build multi-disciplinary training teams, we have expanded our T32 faculty to engage mentors from at least 2 disciplines and to include mentors-in-training in the mentoring team for all trainees. To address health disparities and unmet needs, this program will focus on bi-directional communication between trainees and the community. This program will also continue promoting clinical research training by taking coursework from the Master’s Degree in Clinical Research (MAS) program or the new UCSD Epidemiology MPH program, and basic research by rooting predoctoral PhD and MSTP trainees in the UCSD/La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology (LJI) Graduate Program Training Area in Immunology.

Our Mission

Millions suffer from rheumatic disease, with enormous economic/societal impact. Research advances have illuminated needs for more investigation to enhance prevention and treatment strategies and improve disease outcomes. This mission requires programmatic measures to recruit, mentor, and develop basic and clinical investigators. This enterprise is increasingly challenging, in an era of multifactorial decline in commitment of a critical mass of young investigator Rheumatologists to research careers, and of increased technology-driven and specialized niches.