Sunday, May 11, 2025
5/11/2025
Substance Abuse Training Center in Public Health - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This renewal application is for Years 11 to 15 of the University of Florida (UF) NIDA T32 Substance Abuse Training Center in Public Health. This program has had a strong record of training diverse predoc and postdoc fellows for careers focused on population science and public health, emerging drug trends, surveillance, epidemiology, population science, big data, prevention, and interventions related to substance use and comorbidities, with an emphasis on social determinants of health and health disparities. The T32 is hosted by the Department of Epidemiology (Epi), which is uniquely situated in both the College of Public Health and Health Professions (PHHP) and College of Medicine (COM), which, along with Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine, comprise the Health Science Center. With 5 predoc and 3 postdoc slots currently awarded, since 2014 when first funded, the T32 has appointed in total 20 predocs (8 minority/ disadvantage/disability) and 12 postdocs (4 minority)— 38% overall reporting minority/ disadvantage/disability status. The justification and design of this training grant renewal is based on five premises that support our core public health translational focus. Premise #1: Public health consequences of addiction are often related to social determinants and health disparities; Premise #2: There is a significant shortage of minoritized scientists and those with disadvantage and disability in the drug abuse field; Premise #3: The need is high for authentic engagement with partners, and people with lived experience to solve real life problems that matter to people across the globe. This T32 prioritizes primary data collection; Premise #4: Our program has a talented group of 24 mentors who make up the mentoring mosaic who are teaching the art of mentoring to our trainees. We have an exceptionally strong commitment from UF leadership; and Premise #5: Social justice and high ethical standards are the foundation of our science and scholarship. Our achievements have increased over time; our slots have been filled and we have taken evaluation seriously. We are asking to increase predoc slots to 6 and decrease postdoc slots to 2. We look forward to 5 more years of funding to continue our upward trajectory to fulfill NIDA’s mission. We at UF are ready to train the next cohort and facilitate their contributions to the science of addiction. There has never been a more important time to fulfill this training need in our country than now.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).