This application is a competing renewal application of T15 HL71805, Pittsburgh Mind-Body Summer Institutes, to partially support the Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center (PMBC-II) annual Summer Institutes. PMBC-I was established in 2000 to conduct research and training on mind-body relationships in the context of understanding multiple physical illnesses and will continue its educational mission under a R24 infrastructure support mechanism through 2009 (NIH RFA #06-03-004). One of the key specific aims of PMBC-I and II is to conduct annually a Summer Institute on mind-body interactions and health, with alternate years concentrating on behavioral antecedents of disease and disability, and on psychosocial interventions for physical illness. PMBC faculty have conducted 5 Summer Institutes and have had increasing success in recruiting and training talented young scientists or more senior scientists new to mind-body sciences. Evaluations of the Summer Institute encourage us to continue to provide this unique training experience, unavailable elsewhere. The specific goals of the Summer Institutes are to provide information about basic pathways linking psychological, behavioral, and biological connections between environmental factors and physical illness;to evaluate the efficacy and importance of state-of-the-art behavioral interventions in preventing disease and disability;and to enhance research skills, including problem solving, design of studies, and communication of ideas. The overall goal of the Summer Institutes is to foster the development of a cadre of new investigators in mind-body science and health. We anticipate that 30 scientists will attend the Summer Institute each year, with 20 from outside Western Pennsylvania.
