# The Wake Forest School of Medicine Training in Research Affecting Child-Health (TRAC) Program

> **NIH NIH R25** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $162,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Despite enormous growth in research related to child health and development, there is a significant lag in
corresponding growth of this workforce, especially for underrepresented individuals. There remains a dearth of
trainees entering into and remaining in these careers. Many pediatricians have limited exposure to research
during their training. Those who have received formal research training—ranging from short-term “boot camps”
to master’s programs—or who work in a laboratory often are taught how to perform certain research skills (e.g.,
clinical study design) but do not know how to develop a rigorous research question. Overly specialized research
training and lack of funding and resources limit the ability to adapt to a changing environment that is increasingly
collaborative. Correspondingly, child health research funding has lagged and is disproportionate to funding for
adult-focused research; only 10% of the NIH budget supports child health research (despite that 22% of the US
population are children). Thus, there is a need to train individuals in a broad array of pediatric-specific
research skills across diverse domains of child health and development in order to optimize their match
quality (i.e., aligning their career choice with who they are and their skills and interests) to promote their
long-term success. The Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM) Training in Research Affecting
Child Health (TRAC) Program will provide a novel child health and development research training opportunity
across the spectrum of educational levels (undergraduate, graduate, and medical students, residents, and
fellows). TRAC will foster acquisition of lasting child health-related research skills with an emphasis on
independence and critical thinking. Modeled after a WFUSM Department of Pediatrics pilot program, and
leveraging existing WFUSM training programs, TRAC will support novel, horizontal peer-to-peer mentorship
through an immersive eight-week pediatric-specific skills course over the summer combined with the
development and implementation of collaborative research projects with guidance from faculty mentors that will
continue throughout the following academic year so participants can see their project to completion. This will
culminate in abstract submissions to the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting the following spring and
submission of a first-authored manuscript. This approach will provide an important sense of ownership and
accomplishment to further empower the participants and generate excitement to enter the field of child health
and development. TRAC will therefore take advantage of a broad educational focus, unique mentorship, and
novel participant empowerment to optimize match quality in order to help participants identify and develop their
strengths and interests to promote lasting interest in research related to child health and development and
enhance the diversity of the research workforce in...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10914779
- **Project number:** 5R25HD111367-02
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** TanYa M. Gwathmey
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $162,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10914779

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10914779, The Wake Forest School of Medicine Training in Research Affecting Child-Health (TRAC) Program (5R25HD111367-02). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/10914779. Licensed CC0.

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