ANDROGEN EXCESS DISORDER

DESCRIPTION As the health care delivery landscape has changed, academic medical centers have begun to demand from their faculty a progressive increase in the time dedicated to revenue-generating patient care. In effect, this has resulted in a reduction in the amount of time dedicated to clinical investigation and the mentoring of beginning investigators. While the applicant (i.e., the Candidate) has had extensive experience in both patient-oriented research (studying androgen excess disorders) and the mentoring of beginning clinical investigators (M.D. clinical, research and Postdoctoral Fellows; undergraduate, graduate and medical students; and residents), the need for increased patient care revenue has begun to erode these abilities. The Candidate now requests additional salary support to continue and expand these investigative and teaching efforts, and to fund some the students' didactic expenses. A mentoring plan is proposed with the broad goals of producing a physician with the clinical, laboratory, and intellectual skills necessary to develop into an accomplished academician, teacher and independent clinical researcher. The specific training objectives include: i) selection and design of a clinical research proposal; ii) evaluation of existing knowledge; iii) the recruitment, study and retention of study subjects; iv) data analysis; v) the performance, application and trouble-shooting of various in vivo dynamic tests; vi) the performance, application and quality control of basic laboratory techniques; manuscript preparation and submission; vii) grant writing; and viii) teaching, lecturing, and preparation of presentations. An Advisory Committee is proposed to assist in assessing potential candidates for mentoring, and monitoring the students' progress. The candidate's research, also to be used for mentoring, is supported by NIH grant 2R01-HD29364-05A1 (Adrenal Androgen [AA] Excess in the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS]). The study has the long-term objective of elucidating the etiology of AA excess in the genesis of the PCOS. The specific aims are to determine: i) the prevalence of AA excess in PCOS, using age/race specific normative limits for AA levels; ii) the long-term within-subject variability of AA levels, and their response to ACTH stimulation, in patients with PCOS and normal women; iii) the relative prevalence of the CYPI7 alleles in PCOS patients w/ and w/o AA excess, and in controls; and iv) the heritability of AA levels, and their response to ACTH stimulation, in PCOS w/ and w/o AA excess, and controls. The institution has committed to releasing the Candidate from other duties in order for him to dedicate at least 50% of his time to the research and mentoring activities.