Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center Summer Institutes

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center (PMBC) was established in 1999 to conduct research and training on the effects of beliefs, attitudes, values, and stress on multiple diseases, in accord with the NIH requirements for five newly funded "Centers for Mind/Body Interactions and Health." One of PMBC's specific aims relevant to its training mission is to hold week long Summer Institutes on mind-body interactions and health, with alternate years concentrating on behavioral antecedents of disease and disability, and on psychosocial interventions. To our knowledge, there is no other summer institute on these topics available at a national or international level. PMBC faculty have already conducted two Summer Institutes and gained valuable information and experience for the design and conduct of future Summer Institutes. This application requests three years of funding to partially support the costs of these Institutes and to defray the travel expenses of the attendees that were not budgeted as part of the original Center application. The specific goals of the Summer Institutes are to provide information about basic pathways linking behavioral, psychological, and biological connections between environmental factors and physical illness; to evaluate the importance of state-of-the-art psychosocial interventions in preventing disease and disability; and to enhance research skills, including problems solving, design of studies, and communication of ideas. The overall goal is to foster the development of a cadre of new investigators in mind-body science and health. We anticipate that 25 scientists will attend the Summer Institute each year, with 20 from outside Western Pennsylvania.