Resident/Intern Substance Use Research Education (REINSURE) Substance abuse remains one of the most prevalent public health problems, and there continues to be a critical need to train investigators who are prepared to conduct pre-clinical, prevention, treatment, and health services research. A serious shortage exists at a time when important basic science discoveries, prevention and treatment advances, and major research initiatives are underway. Research training in drug abuse at Yale and other academic institutions is well-established for individuals at more advanced stages of career development;however, a severe deficiency in the training continuum exists in the critical transitional professional training phase of psychiatric residency and psychology internship. This training gap needs to be closed to insure that a pool of highly qualified, promising clinical investigators become or remain committed to the field of drug abuse research. Five years of funding would support the implementation of a postgraduate/ medical school drug abuse research education program that is fully integrated within the existing structure of Yale's clinical psychology internship and psychiatry residency programs. Support is sought for two full-time psychology interns, two near-full-time PGY-IV residents, as well as more time-limited, focused research exposure experiences for residents in preceding PGY-I, PGY-II, and PGY-III. Educational experiences will be individualized to facilitate different training opportunities with the large, diverse faculty working in one or more of the existing substance abuse research centers at Yale conducting basic/translational, prevention, psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and health services research. Although the specific research experiences of interns and residents will differ, there will be some common didactic seminars, project experiences, and mentorship. The Department of Psychiatry at Yale Medical School is ideally situated to sustain and enhance the research skills and career interests of psychiatry and psychology trainees. Yale investigators have been at the forefront of basic science investigations and applied research that has identified, developed, or tested many of the standard pharmacotherapeutic, psychotherapeutic, and prevention approaches for substance abuse. We propose to establish what could become a national model for drug abuse research education for post-graduate/medical school trainees.
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