Declines in the numbers of physicians pursuing careers in clinical research have raised national concerns about an impending crisis in public health care. While numerous medical fields are affected, the problem in psychiatry is particularly acute, with projected shortages prompting a recent analysis of the problem by the Institute of Medicine. Ironically, shortages of psychiatrists pursing patient-oriented research careers occur at a time when discoveries in the fields of genetics and neuroscience are having an unprecedented impact on the basic behavioral sciences. Translating such basic science insights into discoveries in the patient-care realm will be crucial for improving our understanding and treatment of severe mental illness. The current R25 application is intended to address the current crisis in mental health research education through several specific aims, including 1) to provide a program of Intensive Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Training (IMPORT) for physicians at their earliest, formative stages of clinical residency training (PGY I &II), 2) to build upon this early exposure through continued longitudinal research training in later residency years (PGY III &IV), 3) to facilitate connections of program trainees to post-residency (PGY V) research training fellowship opportunities, and 4) to refine and optimize these experiences so as to provide a national model for training psychiatry residents across the country in patient-oriented research. Funding from the R25, in conjunction with institutional resources at Yale, will allow a total of up to 4 psychiatric residents per year to receive such specialized longitudinal research training experiences. If successful, the program will benefit the country directly, through the increased identification, recruitment and retention of a highly skilled cadre of young clinical psychiatric investigators, and indirectly, as a template for other residency training programs across the country.
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