Schizophrenia Research Training Program

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a revised application requesting funds to support a minimum of two years of predoctoral training in schizophrenia research. The 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 of schizophrenia. The proposed training program will involve four predoctoral students in the Ph.D. clinical psychology program at the University of Maryland, College Park (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 training program emphasizes a multidisciplinary orientation that includes diverse course work and the involvement of research mentors at UMCP, the University of Maryland Medical School, and the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. The program will have five components to achieve multidisciplinary training in schizophrenia research: 1) trainees will complete core courses in schizophrenia involving the psychopathology of this disorder as well as psychosocial aspects of functioning and treatment, 2) additional courses in behavioral, cognitive, developmental and neurosciences will be taken as part of the program curriculum, 3) trainees will 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 will participate in a year-long clinical externship focusing on the assessment and treatment of schizophrenia and severe mental illness, and 5) throughout the training program, fellows will have intensive research experiences within Mentor labs conducting a range of basic and applied research in schizophrenia. Mentors represent a diverse array of schizophrenia research (largely extramurally-funded) including ethical issues in the study of schizophrenia, neuropsychological aspects of functioning, neuropharmacology, neurological models of symptomatology, emotion and stress reactivity in schizophrenia, social impairment and psychosocial remediation, detection of risk for the development of schizophrenia, assessment and diagnosis, gender differences, comorbidity, family issues, and service models. In sum, the proposed NRSA would establish a unique and much needed predoctoral training program that will develop scientists who are trained and devoted to the study of the causes and treatments of schizophrenia.