This renewal application requests continued support for the Postdoctoral Research Training Program in Substance Abuse Prevention at Yale University. The host site for the program will continue to be the Division of Prevention and Community Research in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, along with two primary partner sites in Psychiatry: the Yale Stress Center and the Division of Addictions. In addition, the program will continue to draw on faculty in three other Yale sites: Women's Health Research at Yale, the Yale School of Public Health, and the Yale Child Study Center. Faculty have a strong track record of scholarship in substance abuse prevention and longstanding collaborations as researchers and mentors. This application builds on the success of our current training program that was originally funded by NIDA in 2005 and renewed in 2010. Our request for renewal funding is based on the continuing demand for advanced training in rigorous, interdisciplinary, community-based translational research focused on substance abuse prevention. An expanded emphasis in this renewal is a focus on translation of neurobiological mechanisms of substance abuse and addiction into the development of community-based preventive interventions. The program trains 6 postdoctoral fellows across two years: 1) to understand substance use/abuse and related behaviors within an ecological framework that emphasizes relevant developmental, family, social, cultural, and neurobiological contexts; 2) to enhance knowledge and its application in pre-intervention, implementation, and dissemination research; 3) to learn state-of-the-art data analytic methods that incorporate rigorous field and laboratory research methods, including mixed methods; 4) to gain experience in interdisciplinary research through collaborations with scientists in other departments; and 5) to increase knowledge about the translation of research into real-world contexts so as to impact prevention practice and policy. These objectives are reinforced in didactic seminars, mentored relationships with two scientific advisors, and individually-tailored experiences based on each fellow's individual development plan. They are also consistent with NIDA research objectives and cross-cutting priorities. Over the past 9 years, the program has enrolled 27 fellows (19 have completed the program, 6 are enrolled, and 2 were recently selected), and virtually all have gone on to careers as prevention scientists. More than three-quarters are faculty in academic settings, and some are employed as prevention scientists in interdisciplinary research organizations. We have also been successful in training fellows from diverse backgrounds; 30% identify as an underrepresented racial/ethnic minority, and 11% as disadvantaged.
This program offers postdoctoral research training in substance abuse prevention that will generate knowledge about the translation of research into real-world settings so as to impact prevention practice and policy, and ultimately, public health. The training provided aligns very well with NIDA strategic research objectives and priorities. Also, since the program's inception, it has been very successful in training fellows from diverse backgrounds as prevention scientists.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 166 publications
