Second ASH Clinical Research Training Institute a Resounding Success
Twenty hematology fellows and junior faculty recently completed ASH's second summer program as part of the Society's Clinical Research Training Institute (CRTI). Chosen from among a pool of applicants from across North America, these 20 will spend the next year carrying out research projects at their home institutions that they have developed with the help of the CRTI. They will reconvene at the ASH annual meeting and in the spring to discuss the progress of their clinical research, as well as issues related to mentoring and career development.
James N. George, M.D., and Beverly S. Mitchell, M.D., are co-directors of the 2004 Clinical Research Training Institute. The 23 faculty for the course were drawn from a pool of national and international leaders in hematologic research, as well as experts in biostatistics and epidemiological research, and members of regulatory agencies. In addition to morning didactic sessions, participants shared evenings with senior leaders in the field who talked informally about their lives and their careers.
Each trainee came to the summer session with a presentation describing a research project in which he or she is integrally involved, and afternoons were devoted to sharpening those research proposals in small working groups composed of faculty, mentors, and colleagues. Mentoring is an essential element of the CRTI, and mentors at the trainees' home institutions will continue to support their research efforts after participants return home.
Participants in the 2004 Clinical Research Training Institute were:
Carolyn Bennett, M.D. (Children's Hospital, Boston)
William Blum, M.D. (Ohio State University)
Jennifer Brown, M.D., Ph.D. (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute)
Ajai Chari, M.D. (University of California, San Francisco)
John Densmore, M.D., Ph.D. (University of Virginia)
Sarah Katta George, M.D. (University of Illinois, Chicago)
Elizabeth Hexner, M.D. (University of Pennsylvania)
Lisa Hicks, M.D. (University of Toronto)
Craig Hofmeister, M.D. (Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola University)
Janna Journeycake, M.D. (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)
Wendy Lim, M.D. (McMaster University)
Catherine Madigan, M.D. (Children's Hospital, Los Angeles)
Deborah Mulford, M.D. (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)
Grzegorz Nowakowski, M.D. (Mayo Clinic)
Oludamilola Olajide, M.D. (University of North Carolina School of Medicine)
Anil Potti, M.B., B.S. (Duke University)
Jia Ruan, M.D., Ph.D., (New York Presbyterian Hospital)
Courtney Thornburg, M.D. (Mott Children's Hospital, University of Michigan)
Gary Vanasse, M.D. (Yale University School of Medicine)
Donald Yee, M.D., MS (Baylor College of Medicine).
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Uniform Acceptance Date (UAD) for Fellowship Training Programs – An Update and Look to the Future
Linda J. Burns, M.D., Chair, ASH Committee on Training
In an effort to enhance the process of fellowship recruitment at hematology, hematology/oncology, and oncology training programs in the United States, the Executive Committees of both ASH and ASCO endorsed the concept of a Uniform Acceptance Date (UAD) in the fall of 2002. During 2003, the concept was further developed, and ultimately training program directors at the majority of training programs agreed that Friday, January 30, 2004, would be the date upon which offers to residents planning to begin their fellowship training in July 2005 would first be extended. Residents were given until Thursday, February 5, 2004, to make their decisions. ASH and ASCO provided guidelines for training program directors to use in extending offers, as well as to residents in accepting or declining offers.
In March 2004 ASH and ASCO conducted a survey of training program directors to assess their experiences with the UAD. The majority of respondents felt that the UAD was an improvement over previous years and were very enthusiastic about continuing the process for 2005. Based on the input of training program directors, the UAD for next year will be Monday, March 7, 2005. Residents will have until noon EST on Tuesday, March 8, 2005 to respond. These changes address the three goals felt to be most important to Program Directors: (1) conduct the acceptance process during the workweek; (2) reduce the time required to fill programs while still providing time for residents' decision making; and, (3) conduct the interviews in early 2005 rather than late 2004.
To date, over 100 programs have indicated they will participate in the 2005 UAD. New this year will be a "clearing house" to connect residents who do not obtain positions with programs that do not fill. Ultimately, instituting a Match instead of the UAD appears to be the desire of the vast majority of program directors responding to the surveys. Plans to do so have been hampered by the ongoing legal challenge to the Match that may now be resolved. In addition, employing the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) that is currently utilized by residency programs is viewed by Program Directors as a tool that would further simplify the application process.
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