Fellowship in Biological Psychiatry & Neuroscience

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests continued NIMH funding for the University of California, San Diego "Fellowship in Biological Psychiatry and Neuroscience", T32-MH18399. This program represents a long tradition in mental health research training at UCSD. The success of the program is demonstrated by the remarkable productivity of its trainees in terms of publications, major awards, and subsequent funding. In the most recent project period alone, trainees have received five NARSAD Young Investigator awards, three NIH K-series training grants, and several other national prizes. Furthermore, all recent program graduates have published first-authored peer-reviewed research papers reporting their Fellowship work, and nearly all continue to work in full-time academic research positions. The need for training programs of this kind is profound. Both the scientific community and the informed public hope and expect that major recent advances in basic neuroscience and genetics, such as functional imaging of the living human brain and the genome project, will lead to breakthroughs in the understanding and treatment of mental disorders. However, complex research technologies take years of training to master, and a lack of researchers who can use these methods to understand the etiology of psychiatric disorders, and transform basic findings into new therapies, could prevent their potential from being realized. Especially problematic is a lack of clinician-scientists who have the training necessary to work at the forefront of biological psychiatry and also translate scientific achievements into new treatments. In the coming project period, the specific goals of the program are: 1) Maintain and improve both the ethnic and the academic diversity of the program trainees using specific recruitment strategies. 2) Foster innovation by promoting exchange between a dynamic mix of psychiatric physicians, clinical psychologists and basic neuroscientists. 3) Provide systematic oversight of mentor assignments, research projects, and trainee progress beginning prior to program entry and continuing throughout training. 4) Provide a strong core of research didactics, yet tailor requirements to meet the specific needs of each trainee. 5) Provide continual education and mentorship in career development "survival skills" which will foster the trainees' transitions to independent research careers.