Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Computational Biology and Medicine

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Project Summary/Abstract The Tri-Institutional Training Program in Computational Biology and Medicine (CBM) takes advantage of the outstanding educational and research resources of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, and the research programs of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City to train computational biologists in the approaches they need to solve complex interdisciplinary biomedical problems. The CBM Program is characterized by: • coursework in both quantitative and biological sciences; • research rotations to enable a well-informed thesis topic selection; • mentored thesis research in one of a diverse array of basic to translational laboratories; • trainee Research-in-Progress seminar series to enhance program cohesion, foster fluency in relevant disciplines, and provide opportunities for scientific presentation practice; • training and mentorship in performing rigorous and reproducible scientific research; • an array of programmatic enrichment activities, including an annual offsite retreat at which students present their work and meet alumni, lunches with visiting seminar speakers, fellowship and manuscript writing training, and annual refreshers in RCR and reproducible research practices; • active guidance and mentoring via annual formal meetings with program co-Directors, biannual thesis committee meetings that include career discussions, and annual IDPs; • exposure to various career paths for successful transition into the biomedical research workforce. The Program, which is well established in its 16th year, has an expanding record of training success, including timely graduation and a strong record of placing graduates in research-related careers both in and outside academia. With this proposal, we are requesting 8 T32 slots (compared to 9 slots in our previous T32), which is well justified by the deep pool of highly qualified training-grant eligible applicants, large array of cutting-edge thesis research opportunities with leading faculty scientists, and the training enrichment that is inherent to an increased critical mass of students. The requested T32 funding would greatly aid the CBM program in continuing to achieve its mission of excellence in training a diverse next generation of scientists to rigorously and reproducibly develop and apply computational and analytical methods to solve complex problems in biology and medicine and to prepare them for research-related academic and non-academic careers following timely completion of their PhD degrees.