This competitive continuation application requests a five-year renewal for our institutional national research service award (T32) entitled, Research Training in Child Mental Health. Support is requested for six postdoctoral fellows and two pre-doctoral fellows for summer research. The overarching aim of this program is to train the next generation of researchers to design and carry out innovative research projects that will help advance knowledge in the field of child mental health. Strengths of the program include a breadth of faculty research interests and expertise, a number of faculty members conducting T2 translational research, and research projects with diverse, underserved and disadvantaged populations. The program embraces an apprenticeship model in which fellows work with a primary research mentor, and in many cases, a secondary f the graduates of the T32 in this 4th cycle, all have faculty positions, 6 in medical schools and 4 in psychology departments (one as adjunct). Our last (3rd) cycle of T32 and research trainees have received 8 K awards, 3 R01s, 2 R03s, 2 SBIRs, and an R34. In this our 4th cycle, 6 of the 10 fellows who have completed two years of the program have submitted NIH grants as PI's during their fellowship. Of these, 1 K Award, 1 R21/R33, and 1 F32 were funded. The current first year fellows are on track to submit two K awards, one R03, and one R21 while incoming 2nd year fellows are on track to write two K awards, one R34, and one New Investigator R01 in the fall of 2013. The 16 fellows from this 4th cycle have a total of 218 peer reviewed publications (75 of which are first authored) for an average of 13.6 total peer reviewed papers and 4.7 1st authored peer reviewed publications per trainee. research mentor. In the apprenticeship model, the mentor works closely with the trainee on existing projects, secondary data analyses, grant writing, and scientific presentations. The didactic program includes both a core and individualized curriculum including seminars on grant writing, responsible conduct of research, professional development, and innovative multidisciplinary approaches to research. This latter seminar helps stimulate discussion of translational research ideas within the context of the NIMH strategic plan. The breadth of research interests, from basic to applied, helps broaden research perspectives and educate fellows with respect to the process of collaboration and conducting research across disciplines. During this past cycle we have trained 18 T32 postdoctoral fellows and 7 predoctoral trainees; 7 additional postdoctoral fellows funded by other sources also took part in the T32 training. O
The World Health Organization ranks childhood psychiatric disorders among the five most common causes of childhood morbidity. Yet, research on child psychiatric disorders is quite limited when compared to the breadth and depth of study on adult psychiatric disorders. Consequently training a new cohort of researchers able to conduct independent research in child mental health is an important public health priority.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 65 publications
