: The overall goal of the UCLA/ RAND Health Services research-training program is to train a new generation of investigators who will be expert in the evaluation of the costs, benefits, outcomes and financing of health care. Medical therapies often do not achieve their intended outcomes. Some of the shortfall may result from medical therapies not being administered according to guidelines and to patients not using treatments as intended. Other factors relating to the patient, the provider, the health system or the environment may also hinder the potential of modern care. The UCLA/RAND program is designed to train investigations who will explore the implications of new therapies for cost, cost-effectiveness, access, quality of care and health. The resulting research may affect the decisions that scientists make on areas and populations to emphasize in their translational work. The goals of the UCLA/RAND Health Services Training Program will be to: 1. Train predoctoral PhD level physicians and scientists in health services and outcomes research. 2. Train postdoctoral social scientists and physicians in health services research. 3. Engage faculty across the UCLA environment in these training activities. The program will accept five new trainees each year. The first year we will accept three predoctoral and two post doctoral fellows. Each consecutive year, the number of pre and postdoctoral trainees will be reversed. The proposed predoctoral training program will consist of a research intensive experience coupled with appropriate didactic coursework and seminars. The goal is to provide pre and post-doctoral trainees with an understanding of both the basics of health services research and with the prerequisite skills required to evaluate innovations. All trainees will receive training in the ethical conduct of research. For post-doctoral fellows, the program will be customized to the background of the trainees. Each trainee will engage in regular seminars and will receive necessary training to enhance their technical research skills. The postdoctoral trainees will engage in mentored research with the goal of developing independence by the end of the program. The program will be competency based. Entering fellows will be evaluated to determine which competencies they enter with and which competencies need to be acquired during the program. Graduates of the program will be tracked to evaluate outcomes in terms of career accomplishments and research productivity
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