Schizophrenia Research Training Program

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This revised application requests funds to support an established NRSA predoctoral training program in schizophrenia research at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). This predoctoral training program is designed to develop future schizophrenia researchers capable of translating basic behavioral, cognitive, developmental and neuroscience principles into research on the psychopathology and treatment of schizophrenia. This NRSA will involve four predoctoral students in the Ph.D. clinical psychology program at UMCP. The predoctoral focus of the program was selected in order to place training at an early point in students' careers and thus allow for the greatest impact on trainee's research skills and scientific orientation as well as their future interests in maintaining a career focus within schizophrenia. This NRSA emphasizes a multidisciplinary orientation that includes diverse course work and the involvement mentors at UMCP, the UM Medical School, and the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. The program has five components to achieve multidisciplinary training: 1) trainees complete core courses in schizophrenia involving the psychopathology of this disorder as well as psychosocial aspects of functioning and treatment, 2) courses in behavioral, cognitive, developmental and neurosciences are taken as part of the program curriculum, 3) trainees participate in a thematically integrated weekly core seminar that includes presentations by core faculty, visiting schizophrenia scientists, and faculty from related fields such as developmental psychology and neuroscience, 4) trainees participate in a clinical externship focusing on schizophrenia, and 5) fellows have intensive research experiences within Mentor labs conducting a range of basic and applied research in schizophrenia. Mentors represent a diverse array of research including ethical issues, neuropsychology, neurophysiology, emotion and stress reactivity, social impairment and psychosocial remediation, gender differences, comorbidity, and family issues. In sum, this application will permit the continuation of an NRSA that provides a unique and much neeed predoctoral program aimed at developing scientists who are trained and devoted to the study of the causes and treatments of schizophrenia.