Cutaneous Biology Mentors

Strong mentoring is fundamental to producing independent investigators. Each trainee has a laboratory mentor (a T32 Primary Mentor) and three to four other faculty (a T32 Primary Mentor or Resource Faculty) who serve as the mentor team. We also have a unique "Road to Translational Research" mentoring team of dermatology faculty who provide guidance in the translational aspects of research.

Mentored laboratory training is the most important aspect of the program and comprises 80 percent or more effort, depending on the trainee's previous background and experience. Each fellow is assigned to a faculty member who heads his/her laboratory and provides day-to-day guidance. The mentor and fellow formulate hypotheses, approaches to address them, interpret data, write papers and grants and work on presentations. The training period in most cases is two years, although trainees may remain in the preceptor's laboratory for longer periods to gain independence.