Department of Surgery Launches Website for NIH T32 Research Training Grant in GI Surgery
The UCSF Department of Surgery has launched a new website for its NIH T32 Research Training Program in Gastrointestinal Surgery. The program, led by Hobart W. Harris, M.D., M.P.H., Professor and Chief of the Division of General Surgery, was originally established in 1987 by Dr. Haile T. Debas, Professor Emeritus of Surgery, a past Chair of the Department of Surgery, and currently Director Emeritus of the UC Global Health Institute (UCGHI).
The T32 Research Training Grant in Gastrointestinal Surgery has supported the training of general surgeons treating diseases of the gastrointestinal tract for three decades, providing them with rigorous research training and the tools necessary to genuinely bridge the gap between laboratory and observations and applied diagnostics and therapeutics, enabling them to mature into independent investigators, and assume the mantle of leadership in academic surgery. The program is distinguished by an outstanding faculty drawn from multiple departments within the School of Medicine, conducting a wide range of innovating research impacting the GI tract. The program also leverages the considerable resources of the Department's Scientific Publications Office led by Pamela Derish, M.A.
The new website serves as a robust platform for the forty-nine prospective, current and past trainees to interact with one another and provide feedback to faculty, creating a virtuous cycle for continuous performance improvement, a key objective of the NIH for sustainability and productivity of its T32 grants.
The web portal advertises the program to prospective research residents in their PGY-2 and 3 years, showcases the work of its trainees, and reflects its commitment to diversity by increasing the ranks of underrepresented minority academic surgeons. The portal also provides a wealth of information about the curriculum and the experiences of its past trainees. The highly competitive program will fill two slots for the period encompassing the 2018-20 academic research years.
Dr. Harris sees the website as an organic, ever-growing and indispensable resource for its community of resident trainees, faculty and former trainees.
The website will be a wonderful and efficient mechanism for maintaining a long-term longitudinal relationship with our trainees. This new web portal enables program participants to submit updates, news stories, and anonymous or personal feedback to program leadership, a growing “family tree” through which trainees and faculty can stay connected through shared activities, past, present and future.
For more information, please visit the NIH T32 Research Training in Gastrointestinal Surgery website.