PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS & NEUROENDOCRINE FUNCTION IN AGING

NIA-SERCA在行为老年病学中应用的目的是 为申请人提供神经内分泌学方面的培训以补充 她在心理社会流行病学和老龄化方面的现有专业知识。是这样的 培训将允许申请人追求她的兴趣，在角色 老龄化轨迹中的心理社会因素，特别是 假设这些因素可能影响的方式之一 健康和功能随年龄增长的模式是通过它们的调节来实现的 神经内分泌对刺激的反应模式。本SERCA 申请旨在为申请者提供必要的 知识和研究技能，以追求她当前的职业目标 开发一系列研究方案来检查 自尊、个人能力和社会支持等特征 下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴反应的不同模式 去“挑战”。拟议的SERCA培训方案包括 神经内分泌学的课程和实验室研究培训 和神经解剖学为申请者提供必要的知识 以及开发和实施此类研究的技能。理查德·罗宾斯博士 一位神经内分泌学家，将担任申请者的赞助人 主要导师；Caleb Finch博士，一位神经生物学家 老龄化方面的专业知识，将是她神经解剖学的导师；伯顿博士 生物统计学家辛格将提供统计分析方面的培训 而心理学家凯伦·马修博士将为 作为研究设计和仪器问题的导师/顾问 将心理社会因素与生理“反应性”模式联系起来。 就长期职业目标而言，拟议的SERCA培训将 为申请者提供两方面的独特技能组合 神经内分泌学和心理社会流行病学将使她 为了追求她对开发一个多学科项目的兴趣 结合神经内分泌参数的衰老研究 与心理社会因素、疾病状态和功能能力有关 老龄化的典型。申请人所在部门强烈支持 这一目标符合更大的全校范围的发展目标 更多多学科研究更多跨学科研究 结合了心理社会和生理参数。这个 申请者独特的技能组合，将以下学科联系起来 神经内分泌学和心理社会流行病学，将使她能够 在制定这样的研究计划方面发挥带头作用。因此， 拟议的SERCA培训将是申请人能力的核心 在她选择的研究领域内发展成为一名独立的科学家 关于衰老。

The purpose of this NIA-SERCA application in behavioral geriatrics is to provide the applicant with training in neuroendocrinology to complement her existing expertise in psychosocial epidemiology and aging. Such training will permit the applicant to pursue her interest in the role of psychosocial factors in trajectories of aging, specifically the hypothesis that one of the ways in which such factors may influence patterns of health and functioning with age is through their modulation of patterns of neuroendocrine response to stimuli. This SERCA application is designed to provide the applicant with the necessary knowledge and research skills to pursue her immediate career goal of developing a series of research protocols to examine the influence of characteristics such as self-esteem, personal mastery and social support on differential patterns of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to "challenge". The proposed SERCA program of training incorporates both coursework and laboratory research training in neuroendocrinology and neuroanatomy to provide the applicant with the requisite knowledge and skills to develop and implement such studies. Dr. Richard Robbins, a neuroendocrinologist, will serve as the applicant's sponsor and primary mentor; Dr. Caleb Finch, a neurobiologist with particular expertise in aging, will be her mentor for neuroanatomy; Dr. Burton Singer, a biostatistician, will provide training in statistical analysis of "reactivity" data while Dr. Karen Matthew, a psychologist, will serve as a mentor/consultant on study design and instrumentation issues relating psychosocial factors to patterns of physiologic "reactivity". In terms of longterm career goals, the proposed SERCA training would provide the applicant with a unique combination of skills in both neuroendocrinology and psychosocial epidemiology which would enable her to pursue her interest in developing a multidisciplinary program of research on aging which incorporates neuroendocrine parameters along with psychosocial factors, "disease" status and functional abilities in models of aging. The applicant's department is strongly supportive of this goal as it fits within the larger school-wide goal of developing more multidisciplinary research greater interdisciplinary research which incorporates both psychosocial and physiologic parameters. The applicant's unique combination of skills, bridging the disciplines of neuroendocrinology and psychosocial epidemiology, would enable her to take the lead role in developing such a program of research. Thus, the proposed SERCA training would be central to the applicant's ability to develop as an independent scientist within her chosen area of research on aging.