Since the last competing renewal was submitted in 1994, this program has successfully trained 2 psychiatrists and 4 psychologists, and training for 5 additional Ph.D.'s and 1 M.D. is in progress. The research application is for continued postdoctoral research training of psychiatrists and psychologists whose long term objective is a research/academic career. Within a fertile multidisciplinary research environment focusing upon clinical and preclinical phenomena related to alcoholism as both a chronic condition and an evolving, developmentally varying symptomatic matrix, this program would continue an already successful training venture. Two postresidency psychiatrists and 3 psychologists are to be trained each year in a two year program that includes training in research methodology, the enhancement of trainees' clinical knowledge, and participation in closely mentored research experiences that will enable the trainee to move into an independent investigative career. Training is enhanced by the program's location within the University of Michigan Alcohol Research Center (UMARC), which has its thematic focus the investigation of problems of aging and alcohol. A broad menu of related projects on: (a) the neurobiology of chronic alcoholism, (b) the etiology of alcoholism as tracked longitudinally, and life course manifestations of alcohol related difficulty at a number of different points in the life cycle, insure that trainees have a wide range of mentoring faculty with very substantial research experience. A graded set of research, clinical, and didactic experiences, set within the context of UMARC's operating structure, ensures that the program is cohesive despite the broad array of research opportunities available. Seven Core faculty and 10 mentoring faculty provide training for the fellows. The primary departmental home for the program is the Department of Psychiatry and its associated clinical facilities, but the availability of research opportunities is enhanced by ongoing alcohol research collaborations with a substantial number of other departments/institutes at the university. Funds are requested to support a total of 6 physician trainees (4 for two years, and two at one year each, at the beginning and end of the award period) and 8 postdoctoral psychologist trainees (6+2). Placements of program graduates, as well as the quality of already ongoing and accepted trainees, indicates that the program has been quite successful in establishing individuals in academic track research careers. An effective track record in the recruitment of minority doctoral level fellows continues to be sustained over the current grant period.
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