This application proposes continued support for a successful research-based training program in Nephrology and Hypertension at Oregon Health &Science University. This is the first competing renewal for this program, now in its fourth year, supporting two trainees per year. Its overarching goal is to prepare qualified post doctoral trainees for successful scientific careers as independent investigators;to achieve this aim, it will provide intensive training in hypothesis-driven, and hypothesis generating, basic and disease-oriented research in a stimulating and collegial academic environment. Potential candidates will hold an MD, MD/PhD, or PhD degree. Successful MD candidates will have completed residency training as well as a first, clinical, year of Nephrology fellowship training prior to enrolling in This Program. This requirement allows both MD and PhD trainees to devote at least 80% of their time to first-hand experience and training in research under the supervision of an established successful investigator. Research activities will be supplemented by a structured didactic program consisting of weekly journal clubs, research-in-progress meetings, Renal Research Conferences, and formal graduate level course work, tailored to the individual scientific needs of each trainee. For trainees pursuing clinically oriented research, the didactic program is expected to lead to a Master's Degree in Clinical Research. Special strengths of the program include: 1) The diverse skills and research interests of the faculty in timely areas including diabetic nephropathy, chronic kidney disease, gender-based kidney disease, hypertension, ion and solute transport, clinical disorders of electrolyte concentration, transplantation medicine and immunobiology, and protein trafficking and lipid biochemistry. Clinical research interests include patient-oriented outcomes research into effects of cardiovascular disease on renal transplantation, molecular mechanisms of hypertension, and chronic kidney disease care in rural areas, 2) the recently expanded clinical research resources supported by OHSU's Clinical and Translational Science Award (one of the first in the nation), which facilitates training in state-of-the-art clinical investigation;3) continuing growth of OHSU as a major research-oriented Medical School (ranked 23rd in NIH funded research, 2009), and 4) the structured mentorship and evaluation model that has been developed and will be enumerated herein. A major premise of the training program is that the need for skilled physician-investigators will only continue to increase over the coming decades, and that this need is critical for continued advancements in human health care. ! PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Serious kidney disease affects more than 8 million Americans, causing untold suffering and early death. This program seeks to train academic nephrologists and kidney scientists who will function as independent investigators capable of developing research programs to address the causes of kidney disease and hypertension, and to develop new and improved treatments for it.