Medical College of Wisconsin Research Training Program in Vision Science Renewed by the National Institutes of Health
The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Research Training Program (T32) in Vision Science has been approved for another five-year term by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The program, which began in 2002, will increase the number of NIH supported pre-doctoral positions available from three in the most recent five-year term to four annually.
The goal of the NIH T32 program is to prepare qualified trainees for careers that have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the nation. Since the program’s inception, MCW has supported 40 pre-doctoral trainees. Program graduates have active careers in medicine and science and many continue to be actively involved in the field of vision, More than 60% of program’s graduates hold faculty-level positions at various prestigious institutions or have developed successful non-academic biomedical science careers, with more recent graduates continuing their training via various postdoctoral fellowship programs.
“We are thrilled to continue the long-standing success of our T32 training program,” says Elena Semina, PhD, Director of the Research Training Program in Vision Science and Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. “Our goal is to prepare trainees for research careers in ocular and vision research and in both academic and non-academic routes. Our faculty group of mentors is well positioned to provide students a broad appreciation of the major features of the visual system, a contemporary understanding of the diseases that impact vision, and modern research skills and technologies for experimental work in the visual system.
MCW’s mentor group for the training program increases to 12 faculty members, including six new participants with highly innovative and dynamic research programs. The mentors span across several departments: ophthalmology and visual sciences, biomedical engineering (a partnership with Marquette University), cell biology, neurobiology and anatomy, and biophysics.
The group of mentors in the Research Training Program in Vision Science receive research funding from the NIH (primarily from the National Eye Institute) as well as additional grants funded by various private and public vision/research foundations.
The T32 program is committed to training a diverse cadre of PhDs and our trainees are unquestionably prepared to lead successful careers in science.