POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS
Research and Clinical Training

Research Training

The Division's research training aims to provide experience in a fundamental discipline which can be applied to research in pulmonary and critical care medicine. When appropriate, fellows are sometimes encouraged to pursue their major research interest for the first year with a faculty member outside the Division in areas such as biochemistry, physiology, cell biology, immunology, epidemiology or health services research. They then apply their newly acquired concepts and methods working with Division faculty.

Fellows planning to enter academic medicine spend approximately two to three years in research unless previous research experience provides an adequate background in a fundamental discipline. The last year provides a transition to independence as an investigator.

Fellows maintain some clinical experience during their research years, spending about 10% of their time in outpatient clinical work, including one half-day of ambulatory patient care per week. The clinical schedule is partially determined by the Division's service needs.

Postdoctoral fellows preparing for research careers in pulmonary or critical care medicine are offered two programs: basic investigation and clinical investigation. The basic investigator option is for fellows interested in mechanisms of lung disease or critical illness. It is supported by a training grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Admission to this program and support for this grant are highly competitive. While conducting research in the laboratory of a mentor in one of the basic science departments in the Division, fellows take graduate courses in biological chemistry, immunology and molecular biology. An interdisciplinary group of mentors is available to assist the fellows with career planning, choice of courses and appropriate laboratory experience.

This program's facilities include state of the art laboratories in molecular biology, cell biology, and immunology with extensive collaborative relationships on campus and nationwide. In the Division, the Will Rogers Laboratory of Pulmonary Research specializes in pulmonary host defense and mechanisms of inflammatory lung injury. Other active research programs focus on lymphocyte-mediated lung injury, host defense against pulmonary neoplasms, and the process of lung repair after injury.

The clinical investigation program is for fellows wishing to pursue clinically-oriented careers. Depending on the trainee's research interest, fellows study in such fields as physiology, epidemiology or health services research while developing their research program. Many mentors are available in these areas. Facilities and programs available for clinical training include the pulmonary function research laboratory, the medical intensive care unit, a 12 bed clinical research center, the UCLA School of Public Health, the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research and the RAND Corporation in nearby Santa Monica. Ongoing investigations include studies of the respiratory effects of cocaine and marijuana, pulmonary responses to air pollutants, the utilization and outcomes of critical care and effects of novel pharmaceuticals. The Division also participates in the National Registry for patients with alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.

The following examples of individualized research programs conducted jointly in the Division and in other departments illustrate potential arrangements:

1) During the first research year, a fellow studies lipid peroxidation products with a biochemist in the Department of Biological Chemistry. The faculty preceptor from the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division attended relevant conferences and participated in discussions and plans with the fellow and biochemist. During the second year, the fellow continued to work in the biochemistry laboratory and applied physiological principles to independent respiratory-related research recommended by the faculty preceptor.

2) A fellow studied the systemic vascular bed and pharmacologic interventions with a pharmacologist for a year. He then applied this experience to the pharmacological investigation of pulmonary hypertension in animal models.

3) A fellow worked in a cell biology laboratory learning techniques involving recombinant DNA and cell biology. He then studied mechanisms by which alveolar macrophages kill microorganisms.

4) A fellow worked in the laboratory of a surgical oncologist specializing in tumor immunology. These techniques were then used to investigate the immunological role of alveolar macrophages in lung cancer.

In each case, the fellow worked with mentors in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division on independent or collaborative projects.

Fellows are required to present talks within the Division at least once during each research year and are encouraged to present at UCLA-interhospital conferences, regional and national meetings. This experience is considered an important part of the training program.

Faculty Research

The faculty of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division have active research programs in many areas. Most have funding from federal, state, regional or local organizations, foundations, pharmaceutical sources or industry.

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