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Pediatric Research, Innovation, and Mentoring Experience (PRIME) Program
The PRIME Program was initiated during the Fall of 1994 by Edward R.B. McCabe, M.D., Ph.D. when he became the new Chair of the UCLA Department of Pediatrics. The goal of the PRIME Program is to provide mentoring to students, fellows and junior faculty members to encourage their development as pediatrician scientists, and to provide support for their Human and Molecular Development research. The PRIME Program is supported by funds from the Dean’s Office, the Department of Pediatrics, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) for the UCLA Child Health Research Career Development Award (CHRCDA; $3,174,495) and the Human and Molecular Development Training Grant ($1,956,692), a Howard Hughes Medical School Research Resources Grant ($1,075,392), and private donations ($600,000).
Pediatricians during their first three years on faculty are eligible to apply for a CHRCDA ($100,000 each per year) to support their salary, a technician’s salary, supplies, equipment, and/or travel. PRIME Faculty Research Awards ($25,000 each per year) are also available to pediatricians during their first three years on faculty, and are funded by the Dean’s Office, the Howard Hughes grant, and private donations. Grant support for PRIME and CHRCDA awardees totals $21,560,000 and includes NIH funding ( seven K08s, eight R01s, one P01 project, one R21, one SCOR project, one U19 project, one U54 project), one Department of Energy grant, March of Dimes funding (one Basil O’Connor Award and one Research Grant), one McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award, and on Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar Award.
CHRCDA and PRIME Awardees also receive free, unlimited access to the Human and Molecular Development Core Laboratory, which includes facilities for tissue culture, DNA sequencing, and oligonucleotide synthesis. The highly skilled Research Associates who staff the Core Laboratory, also provide training in molecular genetic techniques to awardees, and those who use the Core Laboratory on a fee for service basis. Support for the Core Laboratory comes from the Department of Pediatrics, the Dean’s Office, the NICHD supported CHRCDA grant, and the Howard Hughes grant.
Other PRIME activities include a monthly research seminar on Human and Molecular Development, which began April,1995 with the goal of increasing collaboration among participants, and attracting students, pediatric residents, and fellows to Human and Molecular Development research. In addition, each junior faculty member is assigned a mentor outside of their division for the purpose of assuring the mentee’s progress toward promotion, including the development of research programs, participation in the academic infrastructure, and establishing a balance between personal and professional life.
Group mentoring for all fellows and faculty occurs as part of the Academic Pediatrics Course. This program presented by Drs. Linda and Edward McCabe began at UCLA in September 1994, and is offered annually. (This course had been developed by the Drs. McCabe at Baylor College of Medicine as part of the Baylor CHRC in 1992 and continued through 1994.) Topics include how to apply for grants, the preparation of abstracts, posters and oral presentations for scientific meetings, and the drafting of manuscripts for scientific journals. In September 1997 the Drs. McCabe began a Leadership Workshop featuring distinguished guest lecturers and discussions on topics such as vision, mentoring, creativity, and integrity.
Additional mentoring opportunities for fellows and junior faculty members occur at weekly conferences established by Sherin Devaskar, M.D., Vice Chair for Research upon her arrival at UCLA. The first Thursday of the month is the Transitional Course with presentations by different senior faculty on aspects of an academic career. The second Thursday is the Work in Progress Seminar with half hour presentations by fellows and junior faculty. The third Thursday is the Human and Molecular Development Research Seminar by senior faculty. The fourth Thursday is a Research Methods course, and the fifth Thursday is a Clinical Research Seminar.
Recruitment of investigators interested in Human and Molecular Development has been extended to high school students with the establishment of REACHOUT in January 1997. REACHOUT pairs high school student volunteers with Department of Pediatrics faculty members for bench research, clinical research, and patient support activities.
An NICHD Postdoctoral Training Grant with the theme of Human and Molecular Development was funded for 10 years beginning May 1, 1998. This program will utilize the 45 mentors from 10 departments participating in the UCLA CHRCDA. Each of these faculty members has an R01, P01, and/or HHMI support for their basic science research in the area of development. They all have a commitment to training pediatrician/scientists. This training grant is intended to replace the division-specific training grants in the past with a thematic approach to training future academic pediatric subspecialists that crosses all divisions. While reducing the number of subspecialist trainees, we want to maintain our commitment to training the academic pediatricians of the future by providing them a strong tertiary/quaternary clinical basis and an equally strong basic science research base. In addition to individual scientific mentors, individual Scientific Advisory Committees, and the Training Grant Advisory Committee, postdoctoral fellows will have mentoring provided by the PRIME Program, including the Human and Molecular Development Core Laboratory, the Human and Molecular Development Research Seminars, the Academic Pediatrics course, and the Leadership Workshop. Fellows who would like to obtain a Ph.D. degree will receive support through the PRIME Fellowship Program.