Clinical Research Training Program: Enabling Medical Research Growth in Emergency Medicine (EMERGE)

Training program overview

This National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded Research Career Development Program is one of six institutional research career development (K12) awards to promote multidisciplinary clinical research training programs in emergency care. The training program is managed jointly by:

• CHOP’s Department of Pediatrics’ Division of Emergency Medicine
• The Department of Emergency Medicine at Penn Medicine
• The Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

This is a two- to three-year training program designed for clinicians already trained in treating emergency medical conditions who seek careers as academic investigators focusing on the conduct of clinical research in acute life threatening cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematological, and/or traumatic emergencies. The program consists of didactic courses, tutorials, and experiences designed to provide Emergency Care Scholars with the skills needed to design and conduct clinical research in emergency care.

• Scholars with limited or no formal training in clinical research will matriculate in the Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology degree program.
• Scholars who already have been trained in clinical research will receive highly individualized training that will include advanced didactic courses, tutorials, and experiences and could include enrollment in the PhD in Epidemiology degree program.

Training program aims

EMERGE provides a highly focused formalized training experience in emergency care science for Emergency Care Scholars. The specific aims are to:

• Provide in-depth knowledge and formalized training leading to a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology degree or more advanced training for those who have received formal clinical research training previously
• Provide intensive, supervised research experiences with mentoring teams consisting of methodologists, emergency care preceptors and biostatisticians; including the completion of an emergency care clinical research project
• Launch Emergency Care Scholars on a productive clinical research career by assisting them in their transition to independence
• Unite faculty and Emergency Care Scholars through participation in collaborative research, seminar series and workshops offered through EMERGE, the Emergency Medicine Department, CHOP’s Division of Emergency Medicine, and the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics

The training program objectives are to generate:

• A new cadre of skilled independent investigators trained to conduct emergency care research and develop academic careers as independent researchers
• New national leaders in emergency care research who can advance scientific knowledge, public policy, develop priorities within the field, and act as spokespersons on the national and international level for emergency care science

Application

Candidates must be:

• Clinicians already trained in treating emergency medical conditions who seek careers as academic investigators focusing on the conduct of clinical research in acute life threatening cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematological and/or traumatic emergencies
• US citizens, non-citizen US nationals, or be lawfully admitted to the US for permanent residence
• Must not have been a Principal Investigator on an R01 or R21 award or on a component of a Program Project (P01), Center grant (P50, P60, or U54), mentored career development grant (K-series), or other equivalent research grant award

Those interested in applying for this clinical research and career development training program should request an application by phone or electronic mail to: Mary DeFalco, Division of Emergency Medicine, 215-590-7054, defalcom@email.chop.edu.

More information

Please visit Penn Medicine for additional information about EMERGE.