Clinical research scholars programs in psychiatry

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a competing continuation application for five years additional funding of for the Clinical Research Scholars Program (CRSP), a research training track for psychiatry residents funded in 1999 in response to an RFA. It provides four years of patient-oriented research training mentored by senior research faculty, with protected time increasing from 17% (PGY-2) to 100% (PGY-5) as trainees' assume more responsibility for their research. We are requesting support for slightly more than 2 trainees per PGY year on average. The didactic program includes a weekly seminar on research skills and design, statistics and bioethics, and additional coursework for advanced trainees. Based in a psychiatry department that has undergone a recent expansion and strengthening of the depth, quality, and diversity of its faculty and academic programs, CRSP is directed by the department Chair who has extensive experience in research training, the residency training director, and a former residency training director who is an active principal investigator. To date, all 9 CRSP graduates have entered full-time post-residency research training (an almost five-fold increase vs. the previous four years), and 5 graduates of this young program have joined university faculties, an almost three-fold increase. Proposed enhancements include an evaluation process built around a yearly Individualized Research Training Plan (IRTP) of specific learning objectives and activities, with formal assessments every six months; more intensive program review by an Executive Committee of senior research faculty and site visits by an expert External Advisory Board; increased involvement of members of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics in teaching and individual consultations; increased support for trainees' research-related expenses and coursework; and use of short- and long-term benchmarks of program performance. The proposed program will provide outstanding mentored patient-oriented research training for the next generation of investigators. Strengths of the proposed program include: (1) a leadership team with extensive research and training experience; (2) an outstanding clinical research environment in the second-largest psychiatry research program in the country; (3) a successful program model based on intensive mentoring relationships between trainees and senior research faculty who make significant commitments of time and resources, complemented by a strong didactic program; (4) increasing success in recruiting and promoting women and minority faculty, (5) recruitment of outstanding residents, including women and under-represented minorities; (6) successful outcomes in the first four years including an almost three-fold increase in graduates' faculty appointments and an almost five-fold increase in graduates entering a post-residency research training program (9 of 9 CRSP graduates); (7) involvement of a unique mental health bioethics program in teaching; and (8) a structured process for goal-setting and evaluation based on an Individualized Research Training Plan.