The objective of this Alcohol Research Training grant is to provide specialized training for post-doctoral fellows in alcohol research. The program is designed to focus on the etiology, neurobiology, and mechanisms of alcohol use and misuse, and novel treatments for alcohol use disorders. It utilizes an interdisciplinary approach, representing psychology, psychiatry, medicine, social work, public policy, epidemiology, genetics, and neuroscience, and it draws on experienced faculty from inter-related institutions: University of Connecticut School of Medicine (UConn Health) and University of Connecticut (UConn-Storrs). The program will benefit from a variety of resources, including our P60 Alcohol Research Center, library services, a computer center, courses in advanced statistical techniques and a newly funded Certificate Program in Addictions Studies, human laboratories, an outpatient clinical research center, and the UConn Health Disparities Institute and Health Career Opportunities Programs. Trainees will select from four Core areas in clinical and translational research: 1) etiology and risk factors of alcohol use disorders; 2) neurobiology of alcohol use and disorders; 3) treatment of alcohol use disorders; and 4) mechanisms of alcohol treatment or its use. Our Training Faculty also has strong interests in multicultural and racial/ethnic minority aspects of alcohol use, HIV and other medical and psychiatric co-morbidities, electronic health technologies, and translational research. The training experience will emphasize these Elective research areas as well. Fellows will be assigned a primary and secondary mentor, based on similar research interests across these core and elective areas. The primary mentor will provide instruction in methods, design, analysis and ethics of alcohol research within the trainee's core research area(s), and the secondary mentor will ensure the trainee is meeting program and personal professional milestones, and when appropriate, collaborate with the trainee on writing papers for publication in elective areas. Additionally, each fellow will establish relationships with at least one external advisor, a prominent alcohol scholar outside the training institutions. The purposes of this connection are to extend the fellow?s training experiences beyond the local research community and stimulate networking and career development opportunities within the larger alcohol research field. The training program will include a curriculum involving seminars on foundations of alcohol research, ethics, professional development and grant writing. In conjunction with other T32s in the New England, we will hold an Alcohol Research Retreat in which trainees will present and can meet others in their own and other career stages. Expectations will be to 1) produce at least two first authored publications per year of training, 2) initiate and complete an independent or collaborative research project, 3) present research at RSA and other scientific conferences, and 4) prepare a grant application by the end of the training period. Given our successes in objectively measured standards with recent trainees, this program is well-poised to train the next generation of alcohol researchers.
Alcohol misuse is a significant public health concern. This training grant draws from multiple disciplines to prepare post-doctoral fellows to investigate biological, psychological, and social mechanisms that underlie alcohol misuse and its treatment. It sets clear and objective standards to assist fellows in pursuing a career in alcohol research, encourages professional development and networking opportunities, and emphasizes multicultural and ethnic issues related to alcohol research, as well as translational issues, mobile health technologies, and research on the connection between alcohol use and HIV and other medical and psychiatric comorbidities.
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