The University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) Department of Kinesiology predoctoral exercise physiology and aging training program has a long history of producing well-trained PhD graduates who completed postdoctoral training and become productive academic faculty members. The program provides trainees with the basic knowledge and experiences to prepare them for high quality dissertation research addressing 1) clinical and basic laboratory investigations in exercise physiology, cardiovascular, metabolism, and genetic aspects of aging research to study the pathophysiology of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in the elderly and 2) the study of the effects of exercise interventions on metabolic, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal function in older men and women. The program consists of a didactic curriculum providing 1) basic knowledge in gerontology/geriatrics, 2) discipline-specific knowledge in exercise, cardiovascular, and metabolic physiology, 3) supporting courses in biochemistry, endocrinology, genetics, cell biology, and other biological sciences, and 4) research design, biostatistics, and computer applications. The research of the UMCP training program involves longstanding and close collaborations with the UM School of Medicine (UMSM) Division of Gerontology and the NIA-Gerontology Research Center. Trainees receive laboratory and clinical research experience under the guidance of primary UMCP mentors and secondary and associate mentors from UMSM, the NIA-Gerontology Research Center, and the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Department of Human Genetics. Coursework and laboratory experiences are designed to culminate in each trainee's dissertation research project. Our previous PhD trainees have published numerous manuscripts in high-level peer- reviewed clinical, gerontology, and physiology journals and have progressed on to NIH postdoctoral training and academic faculty positions. We propose to support 2-5 trainees in this training program with each funded for 4 years to provide an optimal training experience. Such training has already been shown, and will continue, to produce PhD graduates with an integrated knowledge of exercise physiology and aging applied to metabolism, musculoskeletal and cardiovascular physiology, and genetics who will complete postdoctoral fellowships and eventually become academic faculty members in universities and medical center.
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