Training in Research in Integrative Medicine (TRIM)

The UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine is committed to searching for the most effective treatments for patients by combining both conventional and complementary approaches that address all aspects of health and wellness - biological, psychological, social and spiritual.

The center has three major programs: research, education, and patient care, all focused on integrative medicine. In the summer of 2007, the Osher Center initiated a new, federally funded program that overlaps all three of those areas: postdoctoral fellowships for training in clinical research in integrative medicine (T.R.I.M.). Trainees are hired for a three-year interdisciplinary program designed for physicians, behavioral and social scientists, and doctoral level CAM practitioners. The program consists of required seminars and formal course work, individual mentoring, research and creative activity, elective seminars and classes, teaching, and a number of optional activities.

• Eligibility
• Application Process
• Program Description
• Faculty
• Contact Information

Eligibility

T.R.I.M. post-doctoral fellowships are open to individuals with doctoral degrees (e.g., MD, PhD, DO). In order to qualify for this federally funded grant, an applicant must be a U.S. citizen, a non-citizen national or a foreign national possessing a visa permitting permanent U.S. residence. Having a temporary or student visa is not acceptable under this grant. At this time, we are unable to consider applications of any individuals who do not meet the eligibility criteria outlined above.

Application Process

Applications will be accepted until February 1, 2008 for the program beginning summer 2008.
Application materials include:

• Application Form
• Explanation of NIH Requirements (requires signature)

For information about TRIM Program applications and timelines, please contact Leslie Murchy at murchyl@ocim.ucsf.edu.

See the Terms of Employment for detailed salary and benfit information.

Program Description

Our training program will provide the following:

• An interdisciplinary clinical and research environment that brings together physicians, credentialed CAM practitioners, behavioral scientists, social scientists, ethicists, and health services researchers


• Exposure to diverse complementary, alternative, and integrative approaches to patient care involving patients in all age groups from early childhood through adolescence, adulthood and geriatric patients


• Access to practitioners with clinical expertise in CAM and integrative approaches to care


• Access to advanced training in biological and psychological research methodologies to support clinical research in CAM and integrative medicine


• Academic training in clinical research. All program participants will be encouraged to complete the UCSF TICR program http://www.epibiostat.ucsf.edu/courses/post.html.


• Opportunity to conduct original research


• Training in research ethics


• Strong mentoring by an experienced and diverse research faculty

The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSF includes an active (> 400 patient visits/month) clinical practice.  The providers in the practice, including physicians who practice integrative medicine and practitioners of CAM modalities, will serve as clinical advisors to the TRIM trainees in the development of clinical aspects of their research.

Trainees accepted into the program will be encouraged to take advantage of UCSF’s strengths in the basic sciences to gain in-depth knowledge of biological science methodologies relevant to their research.  An important goal is to have trainees learn how to choose the most appropriate techniques for the measurement and analysis of biological markers and outcomes, how to assess reliability, and how to understand potential strengths and weaknesses of the techniques. Similarly, trainees who want to measure psychosocial variables and have not had previous training will have the opportunity to become more knowledgeable about the evaluation of the reliability and validity of psychosocial measures and the potential weaknesses and strengths of such measures. 

The program is designed for three years.  Trainees will be strongly encouraged to take the full-year program, “Advanced Training in Clinical Research,” offered by the Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Research, during their first year. 

Faculty

The Core Faculty consists of fourteen members representing diverse disciplines including medicine, psychology, anthropology, psychoneuroendocrinology, women's medicine, pediatric gastroenterology, health services research, medical ethics, and psychiatry. The program also has a nine-person Clinical Advisory Faculty to advise trainees regarding complementary and alternative modalities that may be relevant to the trainees' research.

Susan Folkman, PhD Training Program PI Psychological stress, coping, & emotion	Rick Hecht, MD Training Program Co-PI Mind-body research
Shelley Adler, PhD Ethnomedicine	Mel Heyman, MD Pediatric nutrition
Peter Bacchetti, PhD Biostatistics	Mallory Johnson, PhD Clinical health psychology
Stephen Bent, MD Safety & efficacy of botanicals	Bernard Lo, MD Medical ethics
Elissa Epel, PhD Psychoneuroendocrinology	Wolf Mehling, MD Manual medicine & backpain
Donald Abrams, MD Integrative oncology	Judy Moskowitz, PhD Emotion & health
Deborah Grady, MD Clinical research methodology & women's health	Owen Wolkowitz, MD Mind-body research

Contact Information

Leslie Murchy
Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
UCSF Box 1726, San Francisco, CA 94143-1726
Phone: 415-353-7753
Fax: 415-353-7554
Email: murchyl@ocim.ucsf.edu