Applicants sought for lung and sleep health scientist training program

Christian Bime, MD, MSc, addresses the 2020-21 PRIDE scholars in an early-career faculty and postdoc researcher training program in January 2020. Salma Patel, MD, MPH, a College of Medicine – Tucson cohort member said, “One of the most rewarding aspects of the program was connecting with peers across the country who were also participating, learning from them, and building a supportive community. We're still in touch, and it's been a valuable network.”

Worries of the latest SARS-CoV-2 strain made for many a sleepless night about the slightest cough and our lung health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, early-career faculty or post-doctoral researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences interested in pursuing research in that area have access to a program to help them stretch their careers as scientific investigators, particularly if they’re from underrepresented in biomedical research (UBR) backgrounds.

Six candidates are sought for the next annual cohort of the research training program known as PRIDE, or PRograms for Inclusion and Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research. Funded through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a unit of the National Institutes of Health, the group will train this summer in Tucson in a two-week orientation and introduction to program mentors and principal investigators. In addition, they’ll have access to seed funding (~$25,000) to help them pursue their research. That’s according to lead principal investigator Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, professor of medicine, chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allegy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson and director of the Center for Sleep, Circadian and Neuroscience Research at the UArizona Health Sciences. 

“In January, our program won a NIH Research Education Program R25 training grant renewed through NHLBI for $1.71 million with an expectation of $125,000 in supplemental annual funding as seed grants for participants’ research,” Dr. Parthasarathy said. “With that, we're committed to investigating the factors responsible for differences in health among populations as they pertain to lung- and sleep-related breathing disorders, as well as related consequences of the pandemic to these systems.” 

Dr. Parthasarathy’s co-PIs include Francisco Moreno, MD, professor of psychiatry at the college, and diversity and inclusion associate vice president and Hispanic Center of Excellence director at the UArizona Health Sciences, and Janko Nikolich, MD, PhD, professor and head of the college’s Department of Immunobiology, who’s new to the leadership team but not its research focus.

That’s because the trio’s work ties together in varied ways. Dr. Moreno’s focus on diversity is accentuated by Dr. Parthasarathy’s role also as lead PI for the Arizona CEAL COVID Consortium – part of the NIH’s Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities, or CEAL, program. And Drs. Parthasarathy and Nikolich are closely aligned by UArizona’s participation in NIH efforts to better understand and treat Long COVID through its Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative and Dr. Nikolich’s role leading the Health Sciences’ Aegis Consortium to reduce the threat of future pandemics.

“This renewal of Arizona’s R25 PRIDE program combines intertwined areas of lung and sleep biology with respiratory infections such as SARS-CoV-2. As such, we’ll be able to provide a unique perspective to our trainees on not only cutting-edge approaches to medicine and medical science, but also to approach issues of disparities massively magnified by infectious outbreaks in the course of the pandemic, and which are likely to persist unless systemically addressed by deliberate training,” Dr. Nikolich said.

Dr. Parthasarathy stressed the pandemic underscored the need for clinicians and researchers to know more about immunology, respiratory infections and vaccines, so Dr. Nikolich was a natural to include.

“At the end of the day, it’s vital that we prepare for the next pandemic, but also deal with how to treat and manage the problems left behind by COVID that are peculiar to the lung and sleep arena,” he added. He’ll be leading clinical trials this summer on Long COVID treatments being investigated by NIH/NHLBI.

“We spend a lot of time and effort helping our scholars advance their research, grant writing, and leadership skills, fostering attitudes and habits that promote resilience and academic success. Some have been more successful than others and garnered a bit more limelight. But all are contributing greatly to advancing science and adding a bit more diversity to the biomedical workforce.” — Francisco Moreno, MD, co-principal investigator, Arizona Approaches to Equity: Pandemics, Lungs and Sleep or AAPLS training program

The broader NIH-NHLBI PRIDE training has been ongoing for a decade as part of a national program active on several academic health campuses across the country. Each campus has a slightly different research focus based on its strengths. But they’re all designed to support long-term mentoring and research education activities to enhance diversity in the biomedical, behavioral and clinical research workforce.

The UArizona Health Sciences was added to PRIDE at the fourth annual cohort’s start in the first 5-year funding cycle and has had 47 trainees since then. Not all cohort members are from UArizona as the national program matches participants to campuses best suited to the area of study they’re most interested in pursuing. But one or two UArizona faculty are usually included in the local cohort. Not all have been from the College of Medicine – Tucson either. Some have come from the College of Medicine – Phoenix and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

Each funding cycle has had a slightly different focus in Tucson. The first, AZ-PRIDE incorporated more cardiothoracic and critical care issues including acute respiratory distress syndrome, a specialty of Christian Bime, MD, MSc, an associate professor in the Pulmonary division who participated in the very first cohort here (2017-18).

“Through the AZ-PRIDE program, I received excellent mentorship that was pivotal for my academic career. I also built enduring collaborative relationships with my peers that helped bolster my science,” Dr. Bime said.

He has since won several grants, been involved in multiple clinical trials and participated in Banner Health’s Advanced Leadership Program for Physicians – not to mention his role as medical director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson during the pandemic.

In the second cycle, the local program was known as Advanced Respiratory Research for Equity, or AiRE. Part of the ninth cohort (2022-23), Amanda Wilson, PhD, an assistant professor of public health, said it was a game changer for her career.

“The R25 PRIDE training program was instrumental in me transforming fresh ideas for new areas of research and training into important outcomes for my career, most recently a K01 grant. The mentorship, community with fellow trainees, professional development, and support through a pilot project helped me test and hone new strategies for success,” she said.

Dr. Wilson recently won a five-year $750,000 NHLBI K01 grant to study work-related asthma risks associated with cleaning supplies for nursing staff.

Other UArizona researchers funded by this training grant include Tomas Nuño, PhD; Nancy Casanova, MD, PhD, MPH; Salma Patel, MD, MPH; Amit Algotar, MD, PhD, MPH; Melissa Celaya, PhD, Daniel Puebla Niera, MD,  Imran Patel, DMD, and Denise Rodriguez Esquivel, PhD.

In this latest 5-year period, the local PRIDE program is known as Arizona Approaches to Equity: Pandemics, Lungs and Sleep, or AAPLS. Learn more about AAPLS and apply here.

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“Call for applications: NIH-funded training program for early career faculty and transitioning post-docs” (UAHS Announcements) | Posted March 27, 2024