2011 - NIH Clinical Center - National Institutes of Health

Rehabilitation Medicine Department’s ClinicalMovement Analysis Laboratory.“I thought it wasreally interesting,” she said.“They demonstrated thedifferent technologies and showed us the clinicalcorrelates.”The keynote speaker of the forum—NIHDirector Collins—addressed the importance oftranslating basic science discoveries into new andbetter treatments and how the NIH is putting scienceto work for the benefit for health care reform.Collins also discussed what the NIHis doing to encourage innovation and empoweryoung researchers like CIST Forum attendees.“As the director of the NIH, one of the thingsthat I enjoy most is the opportunity to brainstorm,particularly with people that are going to lead ourfield in the future, and that is all of you, about thedirections that science is taking that are going to beparticularly transformative,” he said.Collins closed his speech with a musicalperformance on his double helix-inlayed guitar:a self-penned update about DNA to the tune ofDel Shannon’s 1960’s hit “Runaway.”“Dr. Collins was amazing. He’s like the supermanof scientists,” said CRTP fellow Hari Trivedifrom the Medical College of Georgia.Above all,for many of the forum attendees, though, was thechance to walk away with new contacts.“These are going to be my future colleagues, futurecollaborators, and people who I’ll be seeing overand over again. So getting to know them now,at this early stage, is going to be beneficial forfostering those relationships,” said Shah Ali of theStanford University School of Medicine, a HowardHughes Medical Institute fellow.NIH Director Dr. Francis S.Collins serenaded CIST Forumattendees with a personalizedversion of “Runaway” after hiskeynote speech.Former CRTP fellow reflects on influence of programThe NIH Clinical Research Training Program(CRTP) aims to prepare the next generation ofclinician-scientists through a year of immersionin the NIH intramural program. One alumna ofthe program recently returned to speak on herexperience and to inspire her successors.Karen Hoffman, assistant professaor in the Departmentof Radiation Oncology at The Universityof Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, spokeon a panel of graduates of the year-long researchprograms represented at the Clinical InvestigatorStudent Trainee Forum, which was held in theClinical Center in November. She was part of theCRTP class of 2001-2002.The CRTP competitivelyselects participants, known as fellows,to spend a year engaged in a mentored clinicalor translational research project in an area thatmatches their clinical research interests and goals.Hoffman did her undergraduate work at theUniversity ofVirginia and earned her medicaldegree from Duke University. She also holds aMaster of Public Health from the Harvard Schoolof Public Health and Master of Health Science inClinical Research from Duke University.Whilein the CRTP, Hoffman researched the late effectsof treatment in long term survivors of pediatricsarcoma with Dr. Patrick Mansky, formerly ofthe National Center for Complementary andAlternative Medicine, and genetic and hormonalregulation of osteosarcoma metastasis with Drs.Lee Helman and Chand Khanna of the NationalCancer Institute Center for Cancer Research.“My experience here in the CRTP helpedlaunch my career,” she said.“It really helped medevelop the thought process to formulate researchquestions and provided the skills to pursue myindependent work.”At MD Anderson, Hoffman conducts prostateand breast cancer clinical research. Her time issplit with 75 percent devoted to clinical practiceand 25 percent to research. She enjoys theinteraction with patients this balance allows her,Hoffman said.Dr. Karen Hoffman,part of the 2001-2002Clinical ResearchTraining Program class,is now assistant professorin the Department ofRadiation Oncology atthe University of TexasMD Anderson CancerCenter.ANNUAL REPORT 2011• 47