This is a proposal to enable the Society for Epidemiologic Research to continue a one day training course on epidemiologic methods with emphasis on cancer epidemiology. Twelve students of epidemiology from medical schools and schools of public health in the United States and Canada will be competitively chosen. One of the primary goals of the Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER) is to encourage the professional development of students of epidemiology. The short term goal of this program is to provide the students with a constructive critique of their thesis research project and assistance with problems and issues they have encountered during the course of their research project. The long term goals are to provide a cross fertilization of ideas and approaches to epidemiologic research and foster future collaboration among the students. Students of epidemiology who are involved in any stage of a masters or doctoral level research project are eligible to apply. Twelve students will be selected based on the blind review of their research protocol conducted by four faculty members chosen to participate in the training session. The faculty members will consist of accomplished epidemiologists working in various areas of epidemiology around the country. The training course will be held each year at the site of the Annual Scientific Meeting of SER. The training course will take place the day before the start of the annual meeting and additional per diem expenses will be provided to the students to enable them to attend the meeting. This proposal is a collaborative effort of the New York State Department of Health and the executive staff of SER. All administrative and financial aspects will be managed by the principal investigator, employed by New York State Department of Health. Faculty assignments and the review process of the research protocols will be conducted by members of the SER executive committee.
