Program Expectations

Junior faculty will participate in a year-long program that includes free (all travel expenses paid) intensive two summer institutes at UC San Diego in La Jolla, CA and the mid-year two-day meeting in-person in La Jolla or remote.

The FOCUS program is part of the PRIDE consortium of several NHLBI-sponsored Summer Institute Training programs. In addition to the UC San Diego program requirements, the junior faculty will participate in a 3-day PRIDE Annual Meeting in the Washington, D.C. area in the spring, as well as actively engage with a mentoring team via on-site and conference call meetings throughout the year.

Please note that the Summer Institutes are designed to be intensive and immersive. You are expected to complete homework and attend evening and weekend activities during the Institutes.

Program Timeline

Event	Time Required (tentative month)	Activities
Virtual Sessions and Individual Work	See details in the Activities column (June)	Attend the program orientation (1 hour), professional development training (~2 hours), and networking (1 hour) sessions (synchronous, virtual sessions) Grant Writing Course classes 1 through 4: 2 hours/synchronous, virtual class time (tentatively once a week) and individual time to work on completing the assignments between classes
Summer Institute I at UC San Diego in La Jolla, California	1 week (July) Note \| Summer Institute I will be held July 14-19, 2024	Structured curriculum with training in grant writing, professional development, mentorship, building mentoring teams, cardiovascular sciences seminars, and instruction in methodologies and a year-long individual Small Research Project (SRP) development
Mid-Year Meeting in-person in La Jolla or remote	2 days (January)	Mock study section on the grant proposal started in summer, SRP progress report presentations, professional development sessions, and research and career development plans with mentors and fellow scholars
PRIDE Annual Meeting in Washington, DC	3 days (Spring)	Scientific and networking meeting where mentees, mentors, principal investigators, and the NHLBI staff gather to engage in hands-on research skill building activities and to form collaborations across the different PRIDE programs, SRP progress report presentations
Mentor conference calls	approximately 1 hour/month or quarter	Work with mentors on RCAP, SRP proposal, and an NIH or equivalent grant proposal. Meet with your research mentor once a month and with your career mentor once a quarter
Summer Institute II at UC San Diego in La Jolla, CA	Up to 4-5 days (July)	Grant review in a NIH styled mock study section, leadership training, final presentation on SRP, methodologies and on-site mentoring