It is projected that 35% of the American population will be aged 65 or greater by 2005, with explosive growth in late life (and very late life) psychiatric disorders. There is a paucity of well trained and committed basic and clinical researchers focusing on critical issues in geriatric psychiatry. This competing renewal application for a post-doctoral training program is intended to help address this problem. The training program will take special advantage of the integrated basic clinical research facilities in geriatric psychiatry at Columbia University, particularly the Late Life Depression Research Clinic, the Memory Disorders Clinic, the ADCRC, the Sergievsky Center, the Division of Neuropathology in the Department of Neuroscience, and the brain imaging facilities in the Department of Biological Psychiatry and across the medical center. The intent of this application is to continue to train outstanding young psychiatrists and PhDs and produce independent primary investigators in late life psychiatric disorders. We request support for three fellowship positions per year, with successful fellows completing a three-year training program. The key component of the training program is the mentor-trainee relationship. Each trainee apprentices with a preceptor with an established track record of scientific productivity and successful mentoring. While executing their own research protocols, fellows are integrated into the mentor's research group and participate in larger ongoing projects in geriatric psychiatry. A broad affiliated faculty provides consultation and collaboration with fellows and mentors. Fellows' clinical responsibilities can only involve patients participating in research protocols and cannot exceed 20% effort. This ensures maximal commitment to developing research skills. The didactic curriculum includes: 1) introductory and advanced courses in statistics; 2) research design course; 3) two-year sequence devoted to special topics in geriatric psychiatry; 4) seminar in research skills; and 5) course work at Columbia University (e.g., School of Public Health) tailored to the needs of the individual fellow. In addition to the common didactic sequence, each fellow is assigned a statistics tutor. To date, this training program has been successful in both meeting recruitment goals and producing researchers committed to geriatric psychiatry, with a high percentage of K-Awardees. This competing renewal strengthens the training program with greater emphasis on basic and translational research relevant to aging and late-life disorders.
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