Training Grant Award

Drs. Trinkaus-Randall and Borkan Receive Prestigious $1.6M Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) Award to Train Physician-Scientists

Aim: To enable students to pursue long-term careers combining rigorous research, clinical practice

Vickery Trinkaus-Randall, PhD, professor of biochemistry & cell biology, and ophthalmology, and Steven Borkan, MD, associate professor of medicine, received a multi-PI MSTP grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The five-year, $1.6M award will help recruit, train and inspire four or more MD/PhD students per year to become clinician scientists by providing research and clinical training ultimately leading to a MD/PhD. It is the first time BU has received an MSTP grant for its MD/PhD program.

Trinkaus-Randall and Borkan are co-directors of the MD/PhD program, whose mission is to educate talented students to become clinician-scientists to solve health care challenges and improve human health and prevent disease. 

“The BU Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), now partially funded by the new NIH grant, will support our trainees with an extensive mentoring network, support infrastructure and innovative program, the pursuit of long-term careers that dually conduct rigorous research and clinical practice to improve human health,” explains Trinkaus-Randall.

“Our courses, mentoring system and exposure to a unique health care setting has enhanced student commitment to clinician-scientist careers, as evidenced by the increased number of recent graduates who have applied and been accepted into Physician-Scientist Training Programs and other research-oriented residencies,” adds Borkan. 

To support current and future students, the researchers have developed a new course, Enterprising, Mentoring, Balance, Resilience & Adeptness in Clinician-Scientist Education (EMBRACE), which will be facilitated by faculty from the mental health counseling program and other BU educators to enhance the skills of the trainees. This new funding allows us to expand the program to include additional students.

Trinkaus-Randall and Borkan believe that EMBRACE will promote the resilience and self-confidence needed to sustain a healthy work-life balance that allows students to thrive through the stress of long training with multiple transitions and avoid burnout. 

Trinkaus-Randall has been funded by the NIH for her research on developing a synthetic cornea and corneal wound healing since 1985 and served on many study sections. Before assuming the position of co-director for the MD/PhD program, she served as director of the Cell & Molecular Biology Graduate Program and chaired PhD student advising under the PiBS Program.

Borkan is an attending physician in nephrology at BMC. In addition to his interest in educating medical students and staff, he studies the cellular mechanisms of acute kidney injury and supervises the care of underserved patients. Borkan has received several teaching awards, and is the senior author of numerous publications in the pathobiology of acute kidney injury. He has been an active, NIH-funded principal investigator for 25 years.