The Psychiatric Epidemiology Training (PET) Program emphasizes the methodologies of epidemiology and biostatistics, focusing on the application of these methods to research on psychiatric disorders. The philosophy of the PET Program is that students must be thoroughly grounded in the techniques of epidemiology and biostatistics before they can apply this knowledge to the exploration of the distribution and etiology of psychiatric disorders. This training is accomplished by coursework in epidemiology and statistics, and through courses in psychiatric epidemiology that were designed specifically for the PET Program. An equally important part of the training experience is the opportunity to work on research projects with faculty mentors who are active researchers in psychiatry and epidemiology. In addition, there is a strong emphasis among the faculty on translational research. This is a competing renewal of a training program that began in 1977, The PET Program has had 32 predoctoral students. Of those who obtained degrees, all but two (93 percent) have remained in academic and/or research positions. Graduates have attained levels such as Professor, Vice President of Research, Chief Epidemiologist, and Program Chief at the CDC, The PET Program has also trained 20 postdoctoral fellows, half of whom were M.D.s. Seventeen (85 percent) have remained in research and/or academic positions; 7 of these are now at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor. The pre- and postdoctoral fellows are addressing areas of central importance to the field of psychiatric epidemiology, such as the epidemiology of and risk factors for dementia in the elderly, child and adolescent depression, the relationship between ethnicity and schizophrenia, and the effects of domestic violence on psychiatric symptomatology.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 37 publications
