This application for renewal of the The Advanced Multimodal Neuroimaging Training Program seeks continued support for integrated training in neuroimaging through linked Institutional Predoctoral Training and Short-term Research Education components. The goal of the program is to prepare a new cadre of scientists who are focused in the areas of basic and clinical neuroscience and possess the necessary physical science knowledge, computational skills, and familiarity with team science to optimally position them for major contributions using and developing the tools of neuroimaging. Designed to facilitate interdisciplinary interactions in neuroimaging through project-based joint mentorship, the program rests on collaboration between faculty members in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, the Program in Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital. Uniting trainees from diverse backgrounds in a common learning community, this multi-level training program includes predoctoral training as well as a short-term educational program that supports a 2-week Multimodal Imaging Short Course and mentored research training opportunities for individuals at other career stages (e.g., postdoctoral fellows, medical students and residents) who require exposure to and additional education in the technology and application of advanced neuroimaging tools. Through the short course, we are able to extend neuroimaging training beyond the context of traditional graduate-level education. Trainees in the pre-doctoral training program are drawn from Harvard and MIT graduate programs, and carry out research projects jointly supervised by the primary mentor and a co-mentor with complementary expertise. Trainees take additional coursework during the appointment term and attend an AMNTP seminar series and other required programmatic activities. The short-term research education program provides important outreach educational opportunities for scientists at various stages of career development. Central to the research education component is paired mentorship with a senior researcher in the trainee's domain, and opportunities for extended stays to engage in hands-on research experiences. By training these groups to understand the bases of neuroimaging methods and apply them effectively to address the fundamental principles of neuroscience, the ultimate goal of this program is to arm individuals across the career spectrum with the tools and broad-based knowledge of the fundamental neuroscience and the technologies and analytic methods of in vivo neuroimaging to address crucial questions in neuroscience.
This training program builds on the long-established history of excellence in basic and clinical neuroscience training and development of advanced neuroimaging technology within the Boston-area research community. Importantly, however, the program fills a previously unmet need for interdisciplinary neuroimaging research training for individuals from various institutional programs, and with diverse backgrounds, with the goal of educating a new cadre of interdisciplinary basic and clinical neuroimaging scientists.
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