Obesity is a major source of morbidity and mortality, and especially of heart, lung, and blood related morbidity and mortality. This renewal application for a highly successful interdisciplinary pre-doctoral training program offers coordinated mentorship, didactic training, career development activities, and supervised research experiences to prepare PhD students for careers as independent investigators. The established pre-doctoral program will build on two successful funding cycles and complements and interfaces with our existing NIH- funded T32 program for post-doctoral training in obesity research. Students entering their 2nd year of PhD training enroll in a formal integrated program tailored to individual interests. Trainees participate in the investigative programs of UAB?s NIH-funded Nutrition Obesity Research Center, one of only 12 such centers nation-wide. Each trainee has an individual mentoring team consisting of a primary mentor and two co-mentors with one mentor from each of three major disciplinary domains (Biomedical; Behavioral/Social; Quantitative/Physical). The faculty's disciplinary diversity (nutritionists, exercise scientists, physicians, psychologists, statisticians, physiologists, geneticists, epidemiologists, etc.) and strong collaborative ties facilitates multidisciplinary training. Students from any UAB department may apply to this program, but must have a mentoring team from this T32 program?s approved faculty. All students, regardless of their departmental affiliation, participate in all activities and coursework for this T32 program. Individuals are recruited from the large pool of eligible 1st year PhD students on campus and selected via formal application and committee review, based on graduate school performance, faculty recommendations, and consideration of the degree to which their interests fit with those of the faculty and ongoing research programs. All trainees must have as a future plan an investigative career in obesity-related research. The program promotes an approach to investigation that is scientifically and ethically rigorous. Regular reviews of individual trainees with the program directors ensure that adequate progress toward an independent research career is made. We have shown great success in attracting talented trainees and guiding them toward careers as independent scientists. Our program is currently funded for 12 trainee slots and we request continued support at this level.
Obesity is a highly prevalent condition that exacts a high price in suffering for afflicted individuals and economically for society. Causes are complex, manifold, and only partially understood and available treatments are only modest in efficacy. New scientific insights are badly needed and training a new generation of multidisciplinary obesity researchers is essential to meet that objective.
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