Overall Objectives: The CEG has established a Career Development Program (CDP) with two distinct, but related tracks to support the development of the next generation of environmental health sciences (EHS) scientists. These are basic, translational, or clinical investigators who have the passion, optimism, and technological skills to conduct transdisciplinary research to advance EHS research with avant-garde discoveries. Tomorrow's generation will need comprehensive approaches to integrating EHS with basic science, clinical investigations, computational biology, and public health research. These investigators will engage in multidisciplinary research that is translational in relation to understanding how model systems can be used in the study of disease in humans. The investigator involved with the CDP will be able to collaborate with diverse disciplines to enhance discoveries in how environmental exposures fundamentally alter human health. It is imperative for basic, medical, and public health scientists to forge new partnerships so that revolutionary technologies of biomedical sciences are translated to clinical practices and personalized medicine. Mentors are needed to assist the junior investigators in forging new cross-disciplinary alliances. Through mutual partnership, these multidisciplinary teams will decode and bring forth innovative initiatives for characterizing exposures and ultimately explaining the pathophysiology and genetics of disease. What will it take for this next generation of biomedical investigators to achieve this goal? Success will require scientists with creative and open minds with tenacious dedication to embrace new approaches to EHS research. In addition, junior investigators need expert mentoring, resources to support high-risk ideas, multidisciplinarv partnerships, and the availability of established extra- and intramural programs to support their cross-disciplinary training. The CEG will meet this critical need through a combination of CEG resources available to the CDP, including Center mentors, funding for a Pilot Project Program (PPP, see Section 8), funding for the use of campus core facilities, and the services and databases available in the facility cores. The CDP has developed two pathways (Specific Aims) to propel junior investigators forward so that they may reach the goals of independent and collaborative multidisciplinary research that will integrate public health, clinical outcomes, and basic science research. The first pathway is referred to as the cnnicai, Next-generation Biomedical Investigator (NGBI), and the second is the Master of Science Clinical Researcher (MSCR). These two tracks are attracting investigators at different stages of their careers. They will be have reached different stages of independence after completing the CDP. Figure 1 outlines the framework for the CDP.
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