Friday, November 22, 2024
11/22/2024
This is submission of a competitive renewal of a T32 Institutional Training grant, entitled The Stuart T. Hauser Research Training Program in Biological and Social Psychiatry. It is ending its 42nd year of a very successful post-doctoral program for MDs, PhDs, and MD/PhDs. Drs. Hauser and McCarley provided leadership from its inception and Drs. Shenton, a former trainee, joined as Associate Director in 1994, and became PI in 2008. Dr. Marek Kubicki has now joined as multiple principal investigator. We plan to continue this intentionally broad, interdisciplinary psychiatry program, which fits well with NIMH’s mission to “transform our understanding of mental illnesses” and “to pave the way for prevention, recovery, and cure.” The rationale is quite clear – to train the most diverse and outstanding young investigators, and to equip them with the tools and knowledge needed to succeed in developing their own research careers in biological and/or social psychiatry, and to understand, treat, and ultimately prevent and possibly cure mental illness. We also follow NIMH’s mission to “foster innovative thinking” and to ensure “an array of novel scientific perspectives” that are used “to further discovery in the evolving science of brain, behavior, and experience.” The program is interdisciplinary and has as its cornerstone a weekly 1.5-hour seminar that includes a 3-month grants module to demystify the grant process. Issues relevant to the ethical and reproducible conduct of research are discussed as are the development of skills needed for a successful clinical research career. Trainees also present their work, and invited speakers discuss their research careers. Trainees work with outstanding preceptors in their chosen field to further develop their expertise, and to ensure the best training possible to support individual initiated investigator research. There are 38 preceptors, across multiple research areas and sites, who help to evaluate candidates and serve as mentors. Trainees devote two years to the program with the goal that they leave with the skills needed to conduct their own independent research or join established clinical research teams as junior colleagues. In the current grant cycle (4 years), trainees have received 26 awards during their time in the T32, some examples include: an NIMH K23 Mentored Patient- Oriented Research Career Development Award, two NIH Clinical Research Loan Repayment awards, five Society Travel awards, three Best Poster awards at conferences, two Harvard Medical School Livingston Awards, a Postdoctoral Excellence in Mentoring Award, a Visionary Grant Award from the American Psychological Foundation, a McLean Hospital Presidential Award, and an Alkemes Pathways Research Award, among others. Trainees fill out a needs assessment form when they begin and then fill in gaps in knowledge with relevant courses. We recruit underrepresented minorities and include underrepresented minorities among our preceptors. Program Advisory Committee, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and Fellows evaluate the program each year to help us improve it.
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).
