The overarching goal of this proposal is to help junior psychiatrist investigators develop and maintain a research career path via our multi-component Research Colloquium for Junior Investigators program (the Research Colloquium).
The specific aims are to: 1) identify current and future senior psychiatry residents, research fellows, and junior faculty psychiatrists who are promising candidates for successful research careers; 2) provide a 1-day, intensive, mentored training session that will allow junior investigators to present their current or proposed research protocols in small group sessions; 3) provide junior investigators with faculty mentoring and peer feedback; 4) provide information and resources that will enable participants to obtain outside funding and launch successful research careers, as measured by the receipt of grant support, publication in peer-reviewed journals, and academic appointments at research institutions, both private and public, and in academia and industry; 5) and provide innovative opportunities for ongoing post-colloquium mentoring and career guidance. The overall Colloquium aims to strengthen and diversify the psychiatrist- scientist workforce. It offers mentorship and research career development junior psychiatrist investigators in two tracks that differentiate participants? research experience (beginner and intermediate) and five core areas reflect the range of psychiatric research, from basic neuroscience and translational research through clinical trials and health services research. An important area focuses on research related to alcohol, pain, and drug abuse, and it integrates aspects of other research areas, including basic brain neuroscience and clinical psychobiology. This application seeks 3 years of support to facilitate the Alcohol, Pain and Drug Abuse component of the Research Colloquium, 2020-2022, to be held in the spring of each year during the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) as a separate event. The Research Colloquium is a team mentoring opportunity that gives beginning investigators a 2-day, immersive research experience through the presentation of their current research in small groups of mentors and peers. Each Research Colloquium invites 30 psychiatric residents, fellows, and early career psychiatrists who meet in small groups of approximately 4-5 trainees and 2-3 mentors plus 1 statistical mentor per group to discuss the trainees? research projects and career plans. They also present their research in a poster session and receive guidance from additional mentors outside their working group. Beyond the 2-day meeting, each Research Colloquium encourages networking, follow-up, and collaborations between junior investigators and mentors. The Research Colloquium has taken place annually since the mid-1990s, sponsored by a coalition of NIH Institutes that has included the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Drug Abuse, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Administrative direction is provided by the APA Division of Research and research staff in the American Psychiatric Association Foundation. The Research Colloquium is intended to reach out to young psychiatrists, including senior residents in psychiatry, research fellows, and junior faculty, at a pivotal point in their careers and provide them with an immersive research experience and opportunities for interaction with peers and mentors who are outstanding researchers in their fields.
/Public Health Impact The Research Colloquium for Junior Investigators is an innovative multi-component research mentoring and career development program that involves interactive pre- and post-colloquium webinars, a 2-day, immersive, mentoring and networking event, a 6-month booster session at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Annual Meeting, and yearlong networking and mentoring through an online Colloquium community. The program provides research experience for early career psychiatrists, including senior residents, research fellows and junior faculty, who meet with distinguished senior research mentors to receive advice on their planned research studies. The overarching goal is to encourage junior investigators in psychiatry, especially ethnic minorities and women, to develop and maintain a research career path and includes pre- and post-colloquium activities such as webinars, interactive online Q&A sessions, and discussion boards to ensure longer-term mentoring and career guidance to the junior investigators. This program helps address the documented lack of psychiatric researchers, especially among women and ethnic minorities, in this country, thereby indirectly helping cultivate future scientific efforts on basic biology, clinical, health services, and cultural competency aspects of mental disorders.
