Pre-Doctoral Research Training in Aging and Urban Health

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The Wayne State University training program in aging and urban health is seeking funds to continue its exceptional pre-doctoral research training program. The rationale for continuing this NIH supported training program is to further our success in training pre-doctoral students, across.avariety of disciplines, on the study of aging and urban health, with a focus on health disparities, functional independence, cognitive neuroscience as well as health and health care over another 5 year period. Our model of using mentoring teams and "pseudo joint appointments" has enabled our trainees to develop a strong professional "fit" with gerontology. This is illustrated by the fact that all 17 of our graduates from 2001-present hold positions in aging and health research at top universities or research programs (e.g. Duke University, University of Michigan, University of California-Davis, University of Louisville, North Carolina State University, City University of London, University of Manchester, University of Miami, Research Triangle Institute). The NIA's investments have led to exceptional success by trainees: 72 publications, 103 regional and national presentations, over 50 university and national awards. From 2001-2004-05, for each slot, the NIA awarded (20 over first four years), we have been able to award an additional 53 slots through university commitments and training faculty research grants. Indeed,one of the keys to an exceptional training setting is the presence of hihgly skilled funded researchers. Our 21 training faculty hold over $30,000,000 in grant funding, a doubling from our first application five years ago. Program Excellence is demonstrated by (1) Trainee achievement, (2) Faculty achievement, (3) Program achievement, and by (4) Demonstrating growth in its reputation and widespread impact across campus, in the community, and nationally. Lay description: Behavioral, social and cognitive neuroscience research holds significant promise for better understanding chronic disease, health promotion and health-related behaviors among older adults. This is particularly true for urban older adults, who suffer significantly increased morbidity and mortality due to health disparities across a spectrum of diseases and conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and a variety of physical and cognitive disabilities. Our training program will prepare researchers to be able to design and apply research findings to this population.