Clinical pharmacology education and training at the national institutes of health

In 1965, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) established the intramural Pharmacology Research Associate Training (PRAT) program with the primary goals of providing postdoctoral training in pharmacology for individuals with or without previous pharmacology graduate training, and allowing individuals with doctoral degrees in pharmacology to obtain advanced training in other areas of science at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The program utilized research preceptors drawn from laboratories that were conducting pharmacology-related research at the NIH campus. Although primary emphasis was placed on training laboratory scientists, a number of PRAT fellows obtained training that enabled them to pursue successful careers in clinical pharmacology. A partial listing of these individuals is shown in Table 1. Eventually, a clinical pharmacology training option was formalized within the PRAT program by the appointment of a Clinical Pharmacology Program Director, but this was subsequently suspended when this individual left NIH for a position in the pharmaceutical industry.