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Research Training

The Center for Cardiovascular Research hosts an NIH/NHLBI Cardiovascular T32 training program, now beginning its third five-year cycle of funding. We provide comprehensive training to predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees to become successful biomedical investigators. The CCR has pursued community outreach to introduce high school teachers to molecular biology techniques. And we provide resources for medical students and other clinicians interested in exploring basic science studies in cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular Research Training Program

Our Cardiovascular T32 (T32HL115505) was the first such program in Hawaii. It supports three predoctoral trainees and three postdoctoral trainees each year who work with and learn from our diverse program faculty. We have been particularly successful in helping these trainees obtain funding of their own from the NIH and the American Heart Association. This independent funding is a crucial first step in developing an academic career. We encourage trainees and faculty from underrepresented groups in biomedical research (UBR) to participate in our program and have been able to support a substantial number of trainees from these under-represented ethnicities. We are particularly proud that two of our T32 supported, under-represented trainees have obtained K99-R00 funding and that several have gone on to faculty positions here and at other institutions. We are also pleased that we have assisted the successful applications for two additions T32 training programs, one in Cancer Epidemiology and the most recent in Nutrition and Bioinformatics.

Educational and Community Outreach

For many years we have provided high school science teachers with "wetlab" molecular biology experiences in the labs of the CCR. We have trained 70 of Hawaii’s senior science teachers and exposing them to hands-on modern molecular biology research and to a better understanding of what a life in science might entail for their students. These 1 to 2 week experiences have been mentored by the trainees of the T32, and our faculty. Although interrupted by Covid we expect to renew this program soon. Ultimately, we hope this kind of training can improve the science literacy of Hawaii’s youth, their students. Watch a 30-second video highlight(opens in a new tab)
The CCR has also provided basic science instruction and opportunities to the fellows of our clinical cardiology fellowship at Queens Medical Center. Over the past ten years this fellowship has trained over 30 young cardiologists, many of whom have remained in Hawaii to care for patients with cardiovascular disease.