The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) Clinical Research Fellowship program for medical students at UCSF is a one-year mentored clinical research opportunity designed to span a broad range of research ranging from bench laboratory science to clinical and translational science, epidemiology and outcomes research. We define clinical and translational research as research designed to address a question of clinical importance. The program is designed to be flexible and will be tailored to meet the needs of each student.

UCSF offers excellent resources for student researchers:

Application

DDCF Online Application

Mail transcripts and any other application materials directly to:

Cecily Hunter
185 Berry Street, Suite 5700
Box 0560
San Francisco, CA 94143-0560
Phone: 415-514-8021
Fax: 415-514-8150

Deadline

January 16, 2008
First Offers: March 21, 2008

• NIH-funded Clinical Research Centers (CRCs)
• Medical centers that serve different segments of the San Francisco Bay Area population
• Over 60 organized research units centered on specific diseases and populations Access to a wide variety of local, state-wide and national databases and research cohorts
• Excellent graduate programs in basic research

Program Structure

The DDCF program is structured so that the student will have some didactic training throughout the year while they work in parallel to develop, perform and analyze the results of their study. The didactic training consists of two courses:

• Training in Clinical Research (TICR) is a summer course that trains scientists in the skills needed to plan and conduct clinical research; critique and interpret the research of others; identify and resolve ethical dilemmas; and write a successful proposal. Each student will work with his or her mentorship team to create a 5-page, NIH R01-style research proposal.
• Advanced Training in Clinical Research (ATCR), held in the fall quarter, incorporates classes on biostatistics, epidemiology and ethics into a cohesive series of lectures and small group seminars. This course will provide further training in the planning and conduct of clinical research, as well as the analysis, interpretation and formal presentation of study results.

During the course of the year, the students will also have a series of other regular activities.

• Weekly Committee on Human Research meetings
• A monthly seminar series with biostatistician Dr. Charles McCulloch, designed to provide opportunities for the fellows to orally present their ideas and data to their colleagues
• There are many other basic and clinical research seminars on campus and students will be free to choose those of greatest interest to him or her

During the last two months of the program, the students will begin to analyze the data that they have collected to that point in time and prepare them for a written report and oral presentation. The final presentations will be given in a student research day. Students may present their data at other student/fellow research meetings as well, including a national meeting for DDCF medical student fellows.

Support

UCSF does not charge tuition for DDCF activities. Travel funds are available for interviews if needed. Funds are available to support the conduct of the research study. Funds for relocation may be available, as are funds to travel to a national conference.

Stipend for 2008-2009: $27,000

Application Process

Please note if you are a UCSF medical student and you plan to apply only to UCSF for the one-year medical fellowship, you should apply through the PACCTR Program. If you plan to apply to schools outside UCSF for the one-year medical program, you should apply to those schools through the Doris Duke Foundation.

1. Complete the Doris Duke Common Application Package

• A printout of the email you receive after completing the online application form, which includes the basic application and personal statement

• An official transcript of your medical school record

• A letter of support from the Dean’s office of the medical school in which you are currently matriculated

• Two letters of support from faculty who can comment on your academic performance and potential for clinical research

2. Identify 2 faculty mentors with whom you might be interested in working. See the list of available mentors. While you may name other faculty even if they are not listed here, please contact Dr. Palefsky before doing so.

3. We would like you to choose two publications from the literature that interest you and in a maximum of 2 pages, please describe:

• What was interesting to you about these publications?

• Based on your reading of these and/or other publications, what kinds of experiments or studies would you perform as a logical extension of the work described in the papers?

Please note that the subject of these papers need not be in the same field as the work that your selected mentors do, and they need not resemble the project that you will perform as a DDCF fellow.