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T32 Program in Pulmonary Focused Foundations in Innovation and Scholarship (PUFFINS)

Program Overview

The Pulmonary Focused Foundations in Innovation and Scholarship program is designed to ensure that the next generation of investigators have the skillsets needed to improve the healthcare and outcomes for individuals with lung diseases with particular emphasis on lung cancer prevention, screening and implementation, critical care, and rare lung diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis and cystic fibrosis (CF). Potential training opportunities in pulmonary diseases span the spectrum from bench to bedside, including basic research, translational research, clinical research, clinical trials and health service research. A unique focus of this program is entrepreneurship and innovation milestones embedded in all projects.

  • Two main training pathways: basic science research and clinical science research, with a foundation in innovation and entrepreneurship
  • The Basic Science Research Pathway builds on our long-standing multidisciplinary research program in inflammation and fibrosis
  • The Clinical Science Research Pathway leverages strong and robust research programs health service research, industry-sponsored clinical trials and NIH-funded clinical trials across departments.
  • A distinctive feature is training in innovation and entrepreneurship into all of the training plans, including didactic sessions, incorporation of expertise into Mentoring Committees, pairing of every Trainee with an MHA intern and embedding explicit expectations of entrepreneurship within each project.
  • Every trainee will receive training in the domains involved in the “Cycle of Innovation”, and will be expected to complete an in-depth analysis in at least one of these domains during their research training 

T32 Mentorship & Training

Mentoring may be one of the most important determinants of whether a trainee develops into a successful scientist. We have created an exceptionally strong mentoring environment through 1) support of the traditional mentor-mentee relationships; 2) team-based mentoring models; 3) structured mentoring opportunities; and 4) education and evaluation of our mentors. Our T32 faculty members are not only world-class scientists but, most importantly, are all engaged in and passionate about mentoring. The twice-yearly Mentoring Committee meetings serve to reinforce the mentoring expectations of our program. To facilitate excellent and consistent mentoring of Puffins Trainees, we emphasize 6 components of mentoring:

  • We encourage a primary and secondary mentor pair to add depth and perspective to Trainee mentoring.
  • Each Mentoring Committee includes either Dr. Jesse Goodwin or Dr. Olanoff as an entrepreneur expert.
  • Each Trainee develops an IDP to assure constructive career counseling.
  • We use a structured Mentoring Committee agenda to guide the dialog as Mentor and Trainee.
  • Trainees participate in a variety of structured mentoring programs.
  • We ensure mentoring quality through a “Mentor the Mentor” program and continuous evaluation of mentors.
  • Optional: Master’s in clinical research or master’s in public health.

Mentoring Committee Agenda

  • Career Goals:
    • Short Term Goals
    • Long Term Goals
  • Knowledge and Skill Development:
    • Brief description of mentee’s planned research project(s)
    • Detailed timeline for submission of meeting abstracts and journal manuscripts specific to each project.
    • Identification of specific research skills that will be needed to complete research projects(s)
    • How these skills will be acquired
  • Innovation and Entrepreneurship:
    • Identification of project-specific commercialization/innovation outcomes
    • Plan for acquiring skills to achieve above outcome
    • Didactic Training
  • Communication of Science:
    • Effective communication of research findings to colleagues: receipt of constructive feedback from RWIP presentations
    • Schedule of presentations (lab meetings, local and national meetings)
    • Scientific writing courses, presentation skills, education, etc.
  • Career Development:
    • Identify opportunities to promote mentee (internally and externally to institution)
    • Promotion of mentee’s involvement in professional studies
    • Supervised mentorship by mentee of residents or students on projects
    • Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research
    • Formal review of CV

Contact Us

Mac Houck, MBA

houckrm@musc.edu
843-792-0492