Towler receives Burroughs Wellcome Fund award for program that aims to train physicians as scientists
Dr. Dwight Towler, Professor and Vice Chair of Research in Internal Medicine, is launching a new UT Southwestern residency program focused on science with a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Physician-Scientist Institutional Award.
Dr. Towler’s project was chosen as one of five nationwide to receive this highly competitive award, selected from among 92 applicants. The program provides a total of $2.5 million over five years to each institution. The aim of the initiative, launched in 2017, is to increase the number of physicians who embrace pathobiology-oriented research as a key component of their academic careers – independent of prior Ph.D. training.
These resources, awarded in September, will support the new Training Resident Doctors as Innovators in Science (TARDIS) program. This residency-focused initiative involves two-year, laboratory-based research programs for selected trainees in pediatrics, surgery, and internal medicine, with formalized mentorship augmented by specialized training, faculty expertise, and technology platforms in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Key collaborators include UTSW residency program leadership in medicine, pediatrics, and surgery, and interactions with graduate medical program leaders.
“This program harmonizes, synergizes, and energizes our institutionwide growth in a culture of enthusiasm for residency research. It will continuously support residency, fellowship, and faculty career transitions for trainees, enabling the appointment of trainees as faculty upon attainment of a career development award,” he said. “UT Southwestern’s commitment to create a new Office of the Associate Dean for Residency Research will enable expansion of the nascent program to encompass our other outstanding residencies.”
Dr. Towler, who joined the faculty in 2015, is a board-certified internist and endocrinologist who earned his medical degree and doctorate in biochemistry from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed his medical residency and endocrine/metabolism fellowship at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
Later, he served as Chief of Bone and Mineral Diseases at Washington University in the Division founded by Dr. Louis V. Avioli – a giant in the field of bone and mineral research and one of the founders of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Dr. Towler holds the J.D. and Maggie E. Wilson Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Research, and the Louis V. Avioli Professorship in Mineral Metabolism Research.