Bumgardner receives NIH grant renewal to continue to inspire young physicians

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded Ginny Bumgardner, MD, PhD, professor of transplant surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, a $1.6 million five-year renewal of her T32 Training Grant. Her work, “Advanced Research Training in Immunology for Surgical Trainees (ARTIST),” inspires young physicians to work as researchers, a critical and differentiating factor in academic medicine. For this renewal, the NIH approved an increase in the number of slots - moving from two to four postdoctoral training positions.

Sanctioned by the Medical Student Research Training program, the pre-doctoral T32 Training Grant gives support for medical students who want to take a year off of their studies to pursue their interest in conducting research. Applicants of the T32 must be medical students in good standing, prove their commitment to school, have permission from the dean to apply and have the goals for their research align with the program’s goals.

The grant is also supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which encourages public support of the sciences and provides course materials on a range of different sciences.

“These funds will support the surgeon-scientist pipeline and encourage new collaborations between surgery faculty and basic scientist investigators through co-mentorship of surgical trainees investigating surgical problems with an immunologic basis,” says Dr. Bumgardner.

This T32 Training Grant reflects the outstanding quality and research productivity of Ohio State’s surgery residents as the NIH Review Committee assesses the outcomes for not only residents supported by the grant but also for all residents in the department.