Research Training

Our mission is to provide the opportunity and guidance for Yale PCCM fellows to pursue research projects during their fellowship training. After completing the first year of fellowship, fellows choose from a wide variety of research projects and mentors within the Division of PCCM and Yale School of Medicine (See: Research, Faculty, Current Fellows).

After completing the first year of fellowship, our fellows are expected to participate in scholarly activity involving an aspect of pulmonary and critical care medicine that they are excited about. We support research across all fields of pulmonary medicine, and our fellows are mentored by leaders in their field, supported by the exceptional research infrastructure and prestige of Yale. Our fellows work on a wide range of projects, from deep mechanistic work into host pathogen interactions, lung injury and repair, and pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis, to clinical trials in the ICU, inhaled bacteriophage for lung infection, and translational research into biologic agents for asthma, interstitial lung disease, QI and clinical outcomes research in the ICU.

We will work with you to ensure we find a research area and mentorship team that you are excited to work with and will provide support, structure, and advisory to make it a productive experience. We work with our fellows to structure their training times and scheduling to favor their academic pursuits and enable more productive blocks. We also allow a co-mentoring structure with faculty outside of our division to support their research pursuits, and create an extensive network of collaborators and colleagues that our fellows can access at different stages of their career development.

Fellows can opt to pursue advanced training in basic biology, biostatistics, clinical research, and molecular biology through courses offered at the Yale School of Medicine. In addition, PCCM fellows may participate in advanced degree programs leading to an MPH through the (Yale School of Epidemiology and Public Health) or PhD (Yale Investigative Medicine Program). The Yale Robert Wood Johnson Program offers additional Training in Clinical Epidemiology. Trainees who wish to pursue additional laboratory or advanced clinical research have the option to pursue a fourth year to complete their research projects. Under the sponsorship of the Section's T32 NIH sponsored training grant, fellows are receiving advanced training in molecular biology, cell biology, statistics, study design, and clinical research.

• To facilitate scholarly thinking, creativity, and foster appreciation and excitement for creating new knowledge in medicine
• To help fellows choose a career development track consistent with their interests and passion
• To facilitate additional training and acquire skills to achieve those goals
• To aid fellows on their pathway to becoming independent basic or clinical research scientists or clinical educators

18 months total between 2nd and 3rd years of fellowship. Option for a 4^th year provided the fellow’s research has shown adequate progress, the fellow has received external funding or other funding resources are available.

1. Identify an area or interest or project and establish preliminary hypotheses
2. Obtain approval for chosen mentors and research plan by the Fellowship Program Director and the Division Chief
3. We strongly encourage pairing with research mentors who are grant funded investigators. Drug trials and work with non-research-based faculty will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Research mentors can be from outside the PCCSM division
4. Selecting a Research Mentor and proposing members of a Research Advisory Committee (RAC)
5. Obtaining necessary HIC, animal care, radiation safety, research trainings, and approvals
6. Submitting Research Protocol to the designated research Mentor and RAC
7. Data collection and analysis under supervision of the Research Mentor
8. Submission of written Summary of Research Findings to RAC
9. Public presentation of research findings or progress annually, starting in the second year, at Research in Progress conferences and national meetings

1. Reviewing specific aims, hypotheses, methodologic plan of project
2. Assisting in the preparation, and signing commitment of the submitted Research Protocol as the Research Mentor of the project
3. Assisting in the preparation and completion of necessary HIC, animal care or radiation safety approvals
4. Direct oversight of data collection and analysis of the project
5. Signing the Fellows submitted Summary of Research Findings
6. Participate in the public presentation of research findings at Research in Progress Conferences

1. Assisting fellows with identifying project feasibility, refining hypotheses, and troubleshooting research challenges
2. Timely review of Research Protocols with written summary of suggestions/critiques to fellows for approved as well as non-approved protocols
3. Review of Summary of Research Findings
4. Attendance at Research in Progress Conferences
5. Provide oversight and direction of modification of Program based on yearly experience