Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research

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Since its inception in 1984, the Behavioral Science Training in Drug Abuse Research program (BST) has become one of the nation's largest and oldest NRSA programs specializing in training behavioral scientists for careers in drug abuse research and related issues, especially HIV/AIDS. BST has trained 218 predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees—nearly half of them racial/ethnic minorities. This application requests authorization to maintain the current number of positions—7 postdoctoral and 9 predoctoral trainees—during each of years 36 to 40. BST is housed in the Rory Meyers College of Nursing at New York University. It collaborates with the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research (CDUHR), NIDA's largest and oldest P30 center focusing on drug use and infectious diseases (also housed at Myers), and National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., a freestanding research institute that specializes in drug abuse research. The Principal Investigator, Dr. Gregory Falkin has managed the BST program for 34 years; he works closely with Dr. George De Leon, the program's Co-Director and Scientific Advisor, in all aspects of training and program operations. The BST core faculty comprises 42 CDUHR affiliate investigators who currently manage nearly 100 grants—about half are funded by NIDA—providing ample opportunity for trainees to be mentored by leading experts on a wide range of NIDA research studies. The BST mission is to prepare behavioral scientists, especially racial/ethnic minorities, for careers in drug abuse research. The program aims to accomplish this by: (1) recruiting and appointing promising behavioral scientists, at least one third of whom are minorities; (2) providing advanced training in substance abuse research and theory, research methods and practices, and the responsible conduct of research; and (3) mentoring and advising trainees on their careers as well as their research and NIH grant submissions. Distinguishing features of the BST program that combined make it a truly unique T32, are that (a) trainees comprise a diverse group—they come from a wide range of behavioral disciplines and ethnic/racial backgrounds; (b) the core faculty includes 42 leading experts on drug abuse who manage dozens of NIDA-funded grants; (c) predocs are enrolled at various universities, not just NYU; (d) the trainees receive highly intensive training that involves classroom learning (they meet as a group all day every Monday in a variety of BST seminars and workshops, which are supplemented by CDUHR trainings) and hands-on research experience on projects of their own design and NIDA studies—they have the flexibility to choose the projects they work on—and postdocs write grant applications; and (e) all fellows receive considerable mentorship from multiple mentors, including the Program Directors, core BST faculty, and other faculty (e.g., thesis committee members). BST's long-standing success is evident in the significant contributions of its fellows who have distinguished themselves through research and publications, which number over 1,500, and their success as independently funded NIH investigators—they have obtained about 100 NIH grants.