This application is a revision of a competing renewal for a T32 post-doctoral training program at Stanford University under the direction of Dr. Allan L. Reiss: T32MH19908, Research Training for Child Psychiatry and Development. The overarching aim of this program is to provide training experiences that will permit the next generation of researchers to design and carry out sophisticated, multi-level, cross-disciplinary research focused on the pressing and unique problems facing child psychiatry. These goals will be accomplished through mentoring from a distinguished and dedicated faculty, trainee-tailored coursework and research experience, and an emphasis on facilitating career development (e.g., as reflected by peer-reviewed publications and grants). Over the 17-year history of this program, the Program Director and affiliated faculty have had considerable success in training productive clinical researchers. Since the last renewal of the program, we have attracted a large number of outstanding applicants, filled all funded slots, retained postdoctoral fellows for the duration of their training periods, and successfully prepared them for careers as independent investigators. Of those trainees completing the T32 program over the past 10 years, 70% assumed research positions in academia or industry and 9% chose to pursue additional post-doctoral research training. Past trainees who pursued research careers are engaged in translational research (30%) or patient- oriented research (35%);the remainder are addressing health service, epidemiological, or basic research questions. To date, more than one-third of these former trainees have received at least one federally funded research grant as a Principal Investigator. Fifty-six percent report that they mentor others. The average scientific publication rate for graduates of our program is 2.0 articles per year. Currently enrolled trainees demonstrate a similar productive course of journal publications and external research funding. In the next grant period, we will further improve upon this highly successful T32 program by: (1) augmenting administrative oversight with the inclusion of a Steering Committee and Internal and External Advisory boards, (2) instituting a significantly enhanced evaluation program to determine program quality and effectiveness and, (3) introducing new measures to enhance the recruitment of underrepresented minorities and candidates with disabilities. Our program aims are to recruit talented and diverse MD, PhD, and MD/PhD postdoctoral fellows, and train them to approach critical research issues in child psychiatry and development from a multidisciplinary, multi-level scientific perspective.
Our T32 training program develops new investigators who have the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct innovative, interdisciplinary research at the forefront of child psychiatry and development. To meet our goal of significantly expanding the knowledge base and methods toolbox of each trainee, we provide individually tailored didactic, mentorship and research experiences. Using this approach, we focus the trainee's curriculum and research on bridging traditional, between-discipline gaps in methodology, and on applying interdisciplinary solutions to complex clinical problems.
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