Aging Health and Health Services Research Training

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed training program in "Aging Health and Health Services Research" will be implemented within an environment rich in research resources and a proven track record of advanced training in research methods with application to aging, chronic illness and health care delivery systems. The Brown University Department of Community Health has a long established commitment to studies of health services in the elderly and chronically ill populations. The Department of Community health has 20 tenured, tenure-track, or fixed term faculty, 10 faculty members with joint appointments (Sociology, Economics, Medicine, etc.), 30 research faculty, and 56 volunteer faculty (from the state's Department of Health, Department of Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Hospitals as well as from Community Service Agencies). The 50 full-time and research faculty are Pl's on over 70 grants and research contracts with an annual budget in excess of 25 million dollars. These grants currently support nearly a dozen graduate students. This proposal seeks funding for 4 traineeships per year that would allow us to recruit the best students as fellows in their first two to three years of graduate studies. The proposed project addresses all 4 of the major goals of the NIA Strategic Plan for research, by educating well trained researchers, with multi-disciplinary experience and a broad understanding of the biological, social, health, service and policy aspects of aging. At the same time, they will be knowledgeable and highly skilled in the traditional and emerging methodologies for analyzing the highly complex and nested data that characterize the new era of Epidemiology. The training grant has five specific aims: 1) Recruit high quality doctoral students into aging research; 2) Provide training in substantive topics relevant to health services research in aging; 3) Provide education in epidemiological methods and statistical approaches with applications to aging research; 4) Provide research experiences in ongoing epidemiological and health services research projects; and, 5) Prepare students for academic and research careers as independent scientists. These aims will be accomplished by a combination of prescribed courses, mandatory seminars, journal clubs and training program meetings as well as applied research experiences working with any one of the numerous funded faculty.