This application is a competitive renewal of a training grant that has been in progress for the past 17 years in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. We are requesting 5 years of support for a total of eight postdoctoral trainees, including one position per year identified specifically for research training for a child psychiatrist. During the past 17 years, we have graduated 53 young scientists from this research training program, 18 of whom are M.D.s, and 47 of whom are actively involved in research and/or academic careers. Trainee candidates are M.D.s or Ph.D.s trained in an area that is relevant to the proposed research program. Most often this will include physicians trained in psychiatry, child psychiatry or pediatrics, and Ph.D.s trained in psychology, anthropology, molecular biology, electrophysiology, or genetics. Recruitment is national, and special efforts are in place for the recruitment of under-represented minorities. Our faculty consists of 17 scientists, of whom 4 are recipients of Research Scientist Awards or RSDA awards, and 3 of whom are MERIT awardees. A core curriculum includes bi-weekly Developmental Psychobiology Research Group (DPRG) seminars, bi-weekly 2-hour faculty minisymposium, an ethics seminar series, biennial DPRG retreats, a miniretreat, and, for physician trainees, a one year course in statistical methods. An elective curriculum is also available. Research training opportunity in the laboratories of the faculty include training in cognitive, emotional, and perceptual development in normal and high-risk infants and children, biochemical and pharmacological studies of brain maturation, neuropsychological and genetic studies of dyslexia, studies of developmental disability in autism, early affective regulation of chronically ill pediatric patients, molecular biology of schizophrenia, behavioral immunology in humans and animal models, genetic parameters in developmental disabilities, animal models of mental illness, and magnetoencephalographic (MEG), magnetic resonance (MR), and electroencephalographic (EEG) correlates of psychoses. The facilities include those of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine (NJClRM), and the University of Denver. Trainees have access to patient populations of the Divisions of Child and Adult Psychiatry, UCHSC, and to the various patient populations of affiliated hospitals, including University Hospital, Denver VA Medical Center, NJCIRM. The Children's Hospital and Denver General Hospital. Faculty provide access to special clinical populations, including autistic and psychotic children, newborn infant and adolescent populations, children with other psychiatric disorders, research diagnosed psychotic patients, children and family members of schizophrenic subjects, children with genetically determined developmental disabilities, and learning disordered populations. The training program is normally 2 years in duration. Trainees completing this program will be able to assume the role of an independent investigator in one of the multiple areas encompassed by the training program.
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