This competing continuation application requests funding for the 19th thru 23rd years (2008-2012) of an institutional post-doctoral training program in mental health services and systems research co-sponsored by the two leading public and private universities in the southeastern United States-the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University-that are located within ten miles of each other in the Triangle area of North Carolina. Training occurs at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research (Sheps Center) at UNC-CH and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Duke University Medical Center (DUMC). The goals of the training program are to expand the pool of investigators capable of undertaking policy-relevant mental health services and systems research. This Training Program for social/behavioral scientists and clinicians seeking advanced training in mental health services research has two components: (1) core activities and (2) individualized study. The core component involves a bi-weekly research seminar, participation in departmental seminars and grand rounds at the collaborating institutions, and other research seminars/workshops at UNC-CH or Duke. The individualized study component is tailored to the special interests and needs of each fellow and their prior experience. It is based on an apprentice-type model whereby each fellow is linked to one or more mentor(s) who works with the fellow to develop his/her own research and skill development program. The emphases of the training program are the organization, financing, utilization, quality, and evaluation of mental health care services;public policies for ensuring access to such services;and the social epidemiology of mental disorders. The Program remains committed to multidisciplinary training, a public sector orientation, and a special focus on persons with a severe and persistent mental illness. This interdisciplinary training has been highly successful to date: (1) a total of thirty-nine fellows have received training;most now hold academic or other research positions, have numerous publications, and funded research projects;(2) a total of 25 core faculty participate in the program;(3) the current externally- funded research grants portfolio of core faculty at the two universities consists of 69 projects with an aggregate direct cost budget of $31.7 million that supports a diverse and productive research environment for postdoctoral training;and (4) supporting relationships exist with state and local mental health agencies in North Carolina and throughout the country. Given the sustained excellence of this training program, funds are requested to continue NRSA-support for four postdoctoral fellows each year during the five-year renewal period.
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