The Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP), now in its twenty-eighth year, offers intensive, interdisciplinary postdoctoral training in clinical research to outstanding psychiatrists (MDs) and biological and behavioral scientists (PhDs). Our primary objective is trainees developing a sophisticated understanding of the research tools relevant to clinical research in psychiatry and in behavioral sciences. Trainees study experimental design, contemporary statistics, relevant assessments, and computer processing approaches in order to implement their own research. The multidisciplinary nature of the program (e.g. developmental psychology, neurophysiology) emphasizes varied perspectives in designing, conducting, and interpreting research findings. The CRTP is oriented towards developing clinical investigators who will in two-years be ready to conduct their own independent clinical research, or join already established clinical research teams as junior colleagues. Specific components of the CRTP are: 1) placement of each Fellow in a funded clinical research training site;2) a weekly interdisciplinary research training seminar. Led by the training Directors, and attended by Fellows, visiting faculty, and other outstanding researchers in the area;3) attendance at relevant courses within the Harvard University complex and other Boston universities and hospitals. The multiple research areas included in the program build upon the research resources present within the Department of psychiatry at Harvard, and include 42 research training sites. We have added 12 new training sites. 5 female and two minority (African American) training faculty. Core aspects of training are through the weekly seminar and Fellows'ongoing work with their research preceptor. A new aspect of the CRTP is our four-point strategic plan to enhance the number of under-represented minority trainees. This plan will include a newly-formed Diversity Advisory Board, and strong alliances with other organizations (e.g., APA) with ongoing Minority Fellowship and related programs. Trainees have continued to obtain full-time and tenured positions at major universities, have shown a strong publication record, and received over 100 research grants, including 17 NIH/NIMH Career Development Awards. We believe that the strength of our program will continue, and that the field of psychiatry will greatly benefit from this rigorous, multidisciplinary training of a new generation of clinical research investigators.
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