Washington University Career Development Program in Drug Abuse and Addiction

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Abstract The goal of this K12 program is to support and train the next generation of clinician scientists with expertise in the genetics of drug abuse and addiction. Drug abuse research is becoming increasingly complex and multidisciplinary. Approaches from single disciplines have done much to advance science, and methodological and technological advances in genetics have established the need for increasingly multidisciplinary approaches to address complex questions about addiction and genetics in human health. Bringing this potential of basic science genetic discovery to advance drug abuse and addiction research requires clinician scientists who can make important diagnostic and therapeutic advances through translational genetics research. To accomplish the goals of this program, we have established the following specific aims: 1. Create 2 new scholar faculty positions at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) and support scholars focused on drug abuse and addiction genetic research. The first scholar will begin in Year 1 of the program. The second scholar will be recruited in Year 3 of the program. 2. Develop scholar-specific didactic training programs designed to complement each scholar’s individual needs and interests. The didactic training will make use of existing coursework and seminars offered across WU, with most courses centered around two outstanding post-doctoral research training programs: the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation and the Master of Population Health Sciences. 3. Provide short-term and long-term research mentorship for scholars through formal mentoring relationships with diverse faculty. 4. Design scholar specific career development plans that will include a focus on the critical transitional step to independent funding. This training will be accomplished through grant writing courses, mock study sections, and mentoring. 5. Establish a comprehensive system to evaluate the WU NIDA K12 Program. We will evaluate the scholars, mentors, faculty and training programs using surveys, interviews, and other metrics. Scholar career development will be tracked long-term, and an independent, annual evaluation will be conducted by the program Advisory Committee. The WU NIDA K12 Program will enable us to take advantage of existing and highly successful clinical and translational research training programs to promote career development and research of 2 clinician scientists whose work focuses on drug abuse and addiction and genetics. This program will support the development of researchers who can compete for faculty positions at the best institutions in the world and produce a body of work to substantially advance our understanding of drug abuse and addiction.