Transdisciplinary Research in Infectious Diseases to Engage Third-year medical students (TRIDENT)

About This Grant

Project Summary/Abstract Infectious diseases (ID) continue to threaten individual human health and shape human populations. There is a strong and persistent need for a multidisciplinary workforce in ID research however this demand is not matched by a sufficient supply. Many critical roles for ID specialist researchers remain effectively hidden from early trainees including medical students. In this project, we will establish TRIDENT: Trans-disciplinary Research in Infectious Diseases to Engage Third-year medical students. TRIDENT capitalizes on the unique curriculum of the MD program of Duke, which reserves the 3rd year of training for rigorous, mentored quantitative research. TRIDENT will leverage this unique opportunity, a productive trans-disciplinary investigator pool, and Duke’s strong record in microbiology and physician-scientist training to engender early trainee interest in ID research. Our Aims are to (1) Recruit and match MD students with trans-disciplinary investigators for directly-mentored research projects in Infectious Disease. Trainees will choose from among validated mentors in the following thematic areas: Infection Control/Hospital Epidemiology, Bacteriology & Antimicrobial Resistance, HIV Prevention, Care, and Management, Global Health, Infections in Immunocompromised Hosts, Microbial Pathogenesis, and Immunology & Vaccinology, (2) Provide interdisciplinary, tiered faculty- and peer-mentorship in ID research, and (3) Implement skills- and career-development curricula tailored to trainee needs. As with all research programs, ID research is best conducted by teams with cross-disciplinary content expertise, technical skills, and professional perspectives, and we are committed to building the future of ID research by recruiting individuals who can bridge these disciplines and ultimately lead complex teams. This application builds on current educational programs within Duke’s MD curriculum, research assets across Duke’s clinical, global health, microbiology, and vaccinology enterprises, and established and complementary training infrastructure for physician-scientists. The impact of the program will be measured by tangible scholar products of the TRIDENT scholars, comparative surveys of TRIDENT scholars, and tracking career trajectory.