For over two decades, Caltech and UCLA have successfully maintained biomedical research endeavors bridging the two institutions, creating a seamless educational conduit. Two longstanding examples are the Caltech/UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) for MD-PhD students and the Subspecialty Training and Advanced Research Program (STAR) for fellowship-level physicians seeking a PhD. These two programs have gained national recognition for training leaders in academia. However, the iTEAM is a multi-institutional program formalized as a 2-year structured curriculum with an emphasis on recruiting and advancing postdoctoral engineers and physical scientists into leadership roles in academia, entrepreneurship, and industry.
NHLBI- and NIBIB-funded UCLA/Caltech T32 programs have prepared biomedical scientists, engineers, and physician-investigators to work fluently at the interface of cardiometabolic disease, mechanobiology, and biomedical engineering through co-mentorship and team-based research across UCLA Health, Caltech Medical Engineering, UCLA Samueli Engineering, and the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System.
Our alumni have been successful in securing NIH K99/R00 Awards, AHA CDAs, faculty positions, and research leadership roles in industry and government. Our multidisciplinary team science has advanced vascular mechanobiology, imaging, and AI/ML-enabled sensing, with contributions published in Cell, Circulation Research, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Science, Science Advances, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Communications, Nature Electronics, Nature Methods, Nature Biotechnology, and Nature Nanotechnology.
Our vision is to inspire, enrich, and empower the next multidisciplinary generation through co-mentorship that emphasizes individualized guidance, early independence, interdisciplinary collaboration, and rigorous ethical conduct of research.
