The Duke Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Translational Science (MERITS) educational program supported by Duke AHEAD and the Department of Surgery has been designed to improve the ability of basic science and clinical faculty at Duke to collaborate effectively and create the next generation of translational research scientists.
Duke MERITS will offer multi-modal education modules for faculty, resident, postdoctoral fellows, and students to enhance team science, improve didactic teaching, and incorporate innovative resources to promote an interdisciplinary approach to translational research at Duke.
The program team is working to define metrics and outcomes measures so faculty can track their progress and identify the impact of their collaborative research in translational sciences.
The program is also designed to address several key barriers to translational research, including research silos, authorship issues, bias regarding who is qualified to influence a particular field, and niche sentimentality, in which researchers become narrowly focused on one area of research.