Training the next generation of cardiovascular researchers will continue at the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine as investigators in the Center for Cardiovascular Research (CCR) have renewed their National Institutes of Health T32 Training Grant for a third cycle.
This grant provides the CCR with $385,000 a year for the next five years to continue training postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in basic cardiovascular science.
The goal of the CCR is to train scientists in the powerful new technologies of cellular and molecular biology to advance our understanding of cardiac biology and disease. In the last ten years of the T32 grant, the CCR has accomplished just that, supporting 28 researchers.
"Many of the trainees have obtained their own independent funding" said Dr. Michelle Tallquist, Director of this cycle of the T32. "We're proud to report that about half of our trainees have obtained funding while they're still on the T32, which then reopens slots for new trainees."
Dr. Jonathan Yap is a product of the CCR's T32 grant. Yap, a quadriplegic Native Hawaiian researcher, started as an intern in Dr. William Boisvert's lab and, through the T32, learned how to write and apply for grants. Last year, he received an NIH K99-R00 grant, which allows him to become an independent investigator and develop his own lab.
"Dr. Yap has overcome the most devastating kinds of limitations you can imagine. He is a great example of the value of the T32," said Dr. Ralph Shohet, Director of the CCR. "Part of the goal of the T32 is to train and encourage our trainees to write grants. That is one of the successes we're especially proud of," Dr. Tallquist said.
Research conducted by CCR investigators includes:
The cardiovascular research conducted with the support of the T32 grant is directed towards addressing the number one cause of death in Hawaiʻi.
"Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death every year in Hawaiʻi, so understanding this disease process is going to be essential for the health of our population," Dr. Tallquist said. "The T32 was the first grant of its kind here at UH to drive graduate and post-doctoral level training in cardiovascular research. We have also helped advise two additional successful T32 grants since we first obtained ours."
While the research done by the T32 trainees could have positive health outcomes in the years to come, the grant also supports economic development in Hawaiʻi as more researchers live and work in the state. "In the context of a lab, it can certainly have a cumulative effect," Dr. Tallquist said. "The T32 supports researchers to develop the data to write grants and maintain a laboratory for highly significant research. That then creates jobs for more technicians, postdocs, and graduate students to produce more insights and successful grants."
Through its Area Health Education Center, JABSOM has many programs devoted to planting the seeds of becoming a physician in the minds of young elementary school students across the state and the Pacific region. As the next cycle of funding begins for the CCR, Dr. Tallquist is looking to do the same thing with scientists.
"COVID limited community interaction, and now this cohort of T32 trainees has a desire to do outreach for cardiovascular education training to elementary schools to let kids both see the importance of cardiovascular health, and come in contact with scientists so they see that they, too, can become scientists," Dr. Tallquist said.
As the T32 enters a new decade, many of the first trainees are now becoming mentors, and this is a priority for Dr. Tallquist. "Mentoring the mentor is what we'd like to do," Dr. Tallquist said. "We have recognized that an essential component of having a great training experience is strengthening our mentoring, so we've built this component into this next round of the T32."