The overall goal of the Research Training and Education Core (RTEC) is to develop programs that will facilitate faculty and graduate student training and career development in obesity-related research. Specifically, we will; 1) Implement a 12-month Health Disparities Research Training Program (HDRTP) targeting junior faculty and post-doctoral fellows; 2) Implement a Summer Obesity Research Training Program (SORTP) targeting graduate minority students, to introduce them to the obesity research field and provide them with basic knowledge about obesity-driven health disparities and methods to address these disparities;and 3) Improve the integration of all levels of training (graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty) and promote the RTEC as a professional development resource through a Web-based Resource Center and symposia. The Research Training and Education Core (RTEC) is highly relevant to the objectives of the proposed P20 application. One of the priorities of the P20 is to develop a cadre of well-trained investigators who will seek to understand the root causes of health disparities among racial/ethnic minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and test strategies to address and eliminate these disparities. By targeting three levels of obesity research investigators graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty (including junior faculty and transitional faculty) the RTEC aims to increase the number of minority investigators engaged in obesity research as well as the number of non-minority investigators engaged in obesity research with minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Through this work, we strive to make obesity-related disparities history and improve the health of minorities and disadvantaged populations throughout the Southeast and the nation. The RTEC is critical component integrated with the P20's other programs. It links with the Research Core through the training of junior pilot project investigators, facilitating their career development, and offering them seminars and scholarly enrichment events. RTEC scholars and students have the opportunity to work on community-based research projects through the Communitv Engagement Outreach Core. By providing workshops and online courses in these two areas and emphasizing the importance of bioethics and biostatistics in lectures and discussions, the RTEP develops greater awareness of how bioethics impacts research decisions and actions, and how critical biostatistics is throughout the research process. Thus the RTEC works together with all programs and cores in a cohesive effort to reach the overall P20 goals.
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