UCSD Integrated Cardiovascular Epidemiology Fellowship

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SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The objective of the T32 funded “Integrated Fellowship on the Epidemiology and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease" is to rigorously train physicians and behavioral scientists in epidemiologic and behavioral research methods focused on preventing cardiovascular diseases by a) providing trainees with an integrated, comprehensive, and intensive 2-year research training experience in CVD prevention and/or behavioral medicine, b) linking trainees with highly experienced and dedicated mentors who will supervise the research experience and evaluate their progress, and c) providing instruction to these trainees on multiple related components of the research process, including relevant didactic coursework, protection of human subjects in research, confidentiality requirements, elements of appropriate and unbiased analysis of data, and finding post-training employment. The program began in 2007 focused on epidemiology and prevention. During that first funding period (2007 – 2012), we learned that, while all trainees are focused on prevention, some had an epidemiologic focus while others were more interested in behavioral medicine. In order to accommodate these different interests, and for the funding period from 2012 – 2017, we changed the structure of the program by expanding the leadership to two Co-Directors; one with experience in cardiovascular epidemiology (Criqui) and the other with experience in behavioral medicine (Marcus), while retaining an Associate Director (Allison). During that funding period, the number of positions was expanded from four to five (2 predocs and 3 postdocs). During the next [current] cycle (2017 – 2022), the number of trainees increased to six (2 predocs and 4 postdocs) and the leadership was changed such that Dr. Allison became the Program Director and Dr. Marcus remained the Co-Director, while Dr. Criqui became the Senior Associate Program Director. Two years into this funding cycle, Dr. Marcus left the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) to become the Dean of Public Health at Brown University. To address this change, Dr. Criqui became the Co-Director. For the proposed funding period (2022 – 2027), and since Dr. Criqui will be retiring, Dr. Allison will remain the Program Director and we propose Dr. David Strong, who has specific expertise in behavioral medicine, to be the program Co-Director. To develop the potential future leadership of the program, we also propose to add two junior faculty: Jan Hughes-Austin as Associate Program Director and Isac Thomas as Assistant Program Director. Both have completed our T32 program, have active research programs and are dedicated to mentorship of junior trainees. To achieve the program objectives, faculty for the proposed program have been recruited from Divisions across the Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Faculty have also been recruited from the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University (SDSU), which has teaching programs in both epidemiology and health behavior. Notably, UCSD and SDSU co-sponsor two joint doctoral programs closely linked to this proposal: Public Health and Clinical Psychology.