Integrated Regional Training Program in Environmental Health Sciences

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ ABSTRACT The objective for our Integrated Regional Training Program in Environmental Health Sciences continues to be to recruit and train scientists in the Environmental Health Sciences (EHS). Primary goals are: 1) Recruit a diverse cohort of trainees; 2) Individualize transdisciplinary, experiential learning employing Individual Development Plans (IDP) for each trainee to provide structured scientific, professional and career development in the environmental health sciences; 3) Train the next generation of scientists to be leaders in environmental health sciences (EHS). Renewal funding is requested to support 6 pre-doctoral trainees and 3 post-doctoral trainees. We have a strong pool of pre-doctoral and post-doctoral applicants, who are evaluated and selected by the Co-Directors and our Internal Advisory Committee. Our recruitment process is designed to attract the best and brightest while also attaining diversity in our training cohort by attracting trainees from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups in STEM. The outcome of our training program will be to matriculate trainees with the skills, experience, and ethics to address a wide range of complex, critical, and rapidly evolving problems in EHS. Our regional, transdisciplinary training program will extend our nearly 50 yr. tradition of excellence in collaborative EHS research and training between Oregon State University (OSU), Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) and Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL). The major evolutions of our training program include: implementation of Individual Development Plans (IDPs) as the foundational framework for our training program; reduction in didactic coursework; new mentors and research topics; and short externships to further promote interdisciplinary training and professional development in real-world potential employment environments. IDPs provide the framework for flexible, individualized professional development and experiential training needs in the context of rapidly evolving and emerging challenges in EHS. Trainees will acquire the core competencies to be successful throughout their careers. Major strengths of our program continue to be our highly productive and collaborative training faculty; our existing highly successful multidisciplinary training program; and the unique collaborative training environment provided by OSU, OHSU and PNNL and supplemented by new regional training partners in the academic, regulatory, and private sectors. Our evolving mentor cohort includes 30 continuing and new faculty mentors, offering a wide diversity of training topics in EHS: molecular toxicology, environmental chemistry, ecotoxicology, systems toxicology, hazard identification, exposure biology, epidemiology, developmental toxicology, nanotoxicology, computational and predictive toxicology, microbiome/environment interactions, neuro/behavioral toxicology, inter-individual susceptibility, metal toxicology, metabolism, diet-environment interactions and translational data sciences. Our former trainees continue to make major contributions in the academic, public, and federal sectors demonstrating the effectiveness of our training program.