The Howard Hughes Medical Institute recently announced a $4 million grant that will be distributed among 11 physician-scientists, all recent alumni of the HHMI Physician-Scientist Early Career Initiative, to help launch and develop their research programs that will influence public health.
Each scientist will receive $375,000 – distributed into $75,000 annual stipends over five years – to help them turn basic science discoveries into improved treatment for patients.
As physician-scientists, these alumni are confronted with balancing clinical practice and research – they are often pressured to spend more time with patients instead of researching, while insufficient funding often limits the efficiency of the research time.
The HHMI grant is designed to provide the physician-scientists with the "extra boost" they need to further their research, often going towards hiring lab technicians and equipment. The grant requires that recipients spend at least 70 percent of their time researching.
"We want to encourage more medical students to pursue research that can turn basic science discoveries into medical practices that can impact human health," said Peter J. Bruns, HHMI’s vice president for grants and special programs. "This early career grant is an extra incentive for these students to continue to pursue science after a long road of research and clinical training."
The research programs are various and ambitious, ranging from Edward Behren’s attempt to understand why the body attacks itself in autoimmune disorders and Sunjay Kaushal’s engineering of new tissues to replace heart valves in cardiovascular disease patients, to Miguel Rivera’s identification of pediatric cancer genes, Erin Kershaw’s work in preventing and treating clinical obesity, and three different projects attempting to understand and treat prostate cancer.
HHMI has awarded 52 physician-scientist grants since the program’s inception in 2006.
