This application requests a further five years of funding to support the organization and delivery, on five occasions, of a one week intensive training workshop on the Methodology of Twin and Family Studies. The workshop is targeted at post-doctoral trainees and experienced investigators (MDs and PhDs), carrying out mental health research supported by the Public Health Service, who are currently working with twin and family study data (including linkage and association studies), planning to initiate such research, or considering the inclusion of twins and families in other genetic epidemiological studies. So as to keep a balance between the needs of investigators being newly introduced to the methodology and more experienced researchers, we propose to alternate between an introductory workshop and an advanced workshop, a practice we have successfully followed during the current period of support. Every workshop we have offered has been oversubscribed. To accommodate the demand for this training, we propose an increase in the planned number of trainees from an average of 45 (budgeted for the last five years) to 100 for each workshop. The workshop offers an innovative educational program designed to enhance research skills in the cross-disciplinary area of genetics and mental health. Research scientists participating in the workshops will update their knowledge and expertise, refine their research skills and, specifically, obtain specialized training in methods of genetic design and analysis and their integration into research on the genetic and environmental etiology of mental health. Although a training workshop, it shares some characteristics of a scientific meeting. Participants are encouraged to discuss their current research, to bring copies of their data to work on directly while at the workshop, and to discuss and develop research plans. New collaborations are established to facilitate both high quality research and publication on existing data sets, and new research initiatives are strengthened by the collaboration of experts with a phenotypic focus with experts in methodology. This application follows the guidelines in PA Number: PAR-02-087 for Mental Health Research Education Grants and extends the training work previously funded by grants T35MH19392, T35MH19918, and R25MH19918.
| Verhulst, Brad (2017) A Power Calculator for the Classical Twin Design. Behav Genet 47:255-261 |
| Maes, Hermine H M; Hatemi, Peter K; Neale, Michael C (2014) Lindon J. Eaves, Ph.D., M.A. (Oxon), D.Sc. Theory-model-data. Behav Genet 44:183-92 |
