Vision

Goals

Faculty

Graduate Program

Vision:

Our vision is inline with that of the National Institutes of Health's new Roadmap for Medical Research. They recognize that:

"To improve human health, scientific discoveries must be translated into practical applications. Such discoveries typically begin at "the bench" with basic research -- in which scientists study disease at the molecular or cellular level -- then progress to the clinical level, or the patient's "bedside."

Scientists are increasingly aware that this bench-to-bedside approach to translational research is really a two-way street. Basic scientists provide clinicians with new tools for use in patients and for assessment of their impact, and clinical researchers make novel observations about the nature and progression of disease that often stimulate basic investigations.

Translational research has proven to be a powerful process that drives the clinical research engine. However, a stronger research infrastructure could strengthen and accelerate this critical part of the clinical research enterprise. The NIH Roadmap attempts to catalyze translation research in various ways."

http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/clinicalresearch/overview-translational.asp

Goals:

• Create a uniquely integrated scientific community for researchers that study bacterial/viral diseases, host-pathogen interactions, cellular immunology, inflammation, immune response to injury, hematology/oncology, and transplantation.
• Conduct translational studies that bring basic science research to the clinical setting.
• Promote scientific collaboration between experienced researchers and researchers-in-training.
• Enhance public awareness of critical research needs in the fields of immunology, microbiology, injury, and transplantation.

Faculty:

InDII is interdisciplinary institute that brings together the basic scientist and the clincian. Faculty members have their primary appointments in various departments including: Microbiology and Immunology, Program in Molecular Biology, Cancer Center Oncology Institute, Medicine Infectious Diseases, Pharmacology, Health Service Research Hines VA, Clinical Microbiology.

Graduate Program:

Students in the two-year Master's of Science in Infectious Disease and Immunology program will engage in a rigorous classroom-based curriculum and carry out a cutting edge research project under the direction of two faculty mentors. Our program inculcates scholarship as well as strong practical training. Our program will prepares students for an advanced career in health-related fields, including medicine, nursing, clinical laboratory science, biotechnology, translational research, biotechnology, forensic medicine and pharmaceutical research and product development, as well as other careers with a science emphasis, such as science writing or health care policy.