Age-related decline in lung resilience acts as a significant risk factor for pulmonary chronic diseases. With the increase in aging populations around the world, there is a growing and urgent need to invest in training physician-scientists and biomedical researchers with a focus geared toward the biology of pulmonary diseases and aging.
Our NIH-funded T32 training program is designed to train postdoctoral MD and PhD fellows into future leaders, stewarding cutting-edge research in the field of aging and lung disease. The program fosters a multidisciplinary approach- integrating basic mechanistic investigation of pulmonary diseases and the biology of aging with clinical and translational investigation of acute and chronic lung disease.
Program Overview
Our postdoctoral T32 training program offers 3 years of structured training for five postdoctoral fellows from MD or PhD backgrounds. Trainees will receive cross-disciplinary scientific and professional guidance in the areas of Aging, Senescence and Metabolism, Immunity and Host Defense, Injury and Repair, Environmental Exposures, Therapeutics and Transplant, and Biomedical Informatics.
Our training faculty for this program are well established in broad areas of expertise that include acute lung injury, lung repair and fibrosis, airway biology including asthma and cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, immunology and the host-response to environmental exposures, respiratory infection, lung transplantation, metabolic alterations, genetics and aging biology and biomedical informatics.
Interdisciplinary Entities Supporting the Training Program Biology of Aging and Lung Diseases
Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep Medicine (PCCS)
- Airway and Environmental Lung Diseases
- Interstitial Lung Diseases
- Critical Care – Lung Injury
- Pulmonary Vascular Biology and Disease
- Lung Transplantation
- Aging
Department of Internal Medicine (DOIM)
- Division of cardiovascular Medicine
- Diabetes and Metabolism Research Center
- Division of Hematology
- Division of Human Genetics
College of Medicine
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity
- Department of Physiology and Cellular Biology
- Department of Surgery
- Department of Biomedical Informatics
- Department Biological Chemistry and Pharmacology
- Department of Pediatrics
- College of Arts and Sciences:
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Department of Molecular Genetics
Institutional support
- Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute
- Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)
- OSU Postdoctoral Affairs Office
- Office of Diversity and Inclusion
Mentors and Advisors of this training program include faculty from several departments from the College of Medicine, College of Arts and Science and College of Veterinary Medicine.
Program Directors
Program Co-Directors
Internal Advisory Board
Ginny Bumgardner, MD, PhD
Professor, Transplant Surgery
Associate Dean for Physician Scientist Education and Training
Professor of Surgery, Comprehensive Transplant Center
Director, OSU Medical Scientist Training Program
Director, Department of Surgery Research Training Program
Director, Medical Student Research Program
Thomas Hund, PhD
Endowed Chair, Internal Medicine
Professor & Director, Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine
Associate Dean for Research Operations and Compliance, College of Medicine
Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiac Surgery
External Advisory Board
Victor Thannickal, MD
Chair, John W. Deming Department of Medicine
Professor and Harry B. Greenberg Chair of medicine
Bethany Moore, Ph.D.
Nancy Williams Walls Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Professor of Internal Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
American Thoracic Society Fellow
GR Scott Budinger, MD
Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care in the Department of Medicine
Ernest S. Bazley Professor of Airway Diseases
Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care) and Cell and Developmental Biology
Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
G. Nicholas Beckwith III and Dorothy B. Beckwith Chair in Translational Medicine
Director, Aging Institute of UPMC and Pitt
Program Faculty
Our trainees
Laura Leuenberger, M.D.
Project: Alterations in lipid metabolism and the innate immune response: novel mechanisms driving Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Severity
Julia Shero, Ph.D.
Project: Defining the role of 12,13-diHOME in cardiopulmonary function with age
Eligibility Requirements
Eligibility requirements (as per NIH policy):
- Trainee must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
- Trainee must not have received more than 2 years of post-doctoral funding from NIH training grants (e.g., T32, NRSA) to be eligible for this award.
- Both Ph.D. and MD postdocs are encouraged to apply.
- MD and MD/Ph.D. applicants must have completed their clinical training or be a 3rd year fellow in clinical training at the time that they are applying.
- Ph.D. applicants must be pursuing a post-doctoral fellowship in the lab of an OSU T32 mentor doing research relevant to the biology of aging and pulmonary medicine
Application
- Application Form: Download application form.
- Current Research: Please provide a brief description of your completed and ongoing research (1-page limit).
- Proposed Research Project: Please describe (2-page limit) the overarching goals of your research. Include:
- Specific areas that you would like to pursue and the questions motivating your research.
- An overview of the aims and approach that you intend to take.
- Identify any methods/techniques or other expertise you anticipate will be necessary to advance your research during your training.
- Career Goals: What are your long-term career goals and what do you believe is necessary to attain those goals? What position do you hope to hold 10 years from now?
- Curriculum Vitae.
- Professional Development Plan: For example, courses, meeting or workshop attendance, teaching /mentoring service opportunities, etc.
- Letter of Commitment from Planned Mentor or Mentor team: Letter of support from planned mentor(s) describing the resources that they have available and will commit to you and your training during the T32 period.
Please send the completed application and the supplemental documents to Jyotsna Nateri (Jyotsna.Nateri@osumc.edu)
Call for Applications
Application for the current cycle is open.