Career Enhancement Core

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Abstract: Career Enhancement Core Investigators embarking in careers in tobacco regulatory science (TRS) will be most successful by applying a well-established scientific paradigm (e.g., epidemiology, statistics, behavioral pharmacology, community based participatory research) in a novel way to address issues of importance to Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The USC-TCORS Career Enhancement Core (CEC) will provide career building experiences structured to in- crease the combination of knowledge of regulatory issues and skills in a specific scientific area. Over the past four years, USC-TCORS developed a robust training program in TRS, which involved successful training of 3 pre-doctoral, 3 post-doctoral and 2 faculty trainees, who excelled in generating TRS research portfolios and secured related academic and professional positions upon finishing the program. Over the 2018-2023 funding period, the CEC will continue this trend by robustly integrating USC-TCORS junior investigators into the teams of one of Center's the four research projects. We will also enhance our existing pilot research program to en- sure that junior investigators pursue independent research questions aligned with our Center's integrative theme. We will increase support for our postdoctoral investigators to network and gain greater exposure to the broader TRS community, including a weeklong research immersion experience at the FDA, Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), or at other TCORSs. Each of the above career enhancement mechanisms will empower USC- TCORS junior investigators develop skills in the concepts and methods of our integrative theme's scientific framework—the Intersection of Products with Populations. In doing so, we expect each junior investigator de- velop skills in one of the methods utilized to study diversity amongst tobacco products, including social media and big data analytics (applied in Project 1 [P1]), community based participatory research at the location of purchase (P2), longitudinal behavioral epidemiology (P3), or human laboratory research of the tobacco product user experience (P4). We also expect each junior investigator to develop a knowledge of the concepts, re- search methods, and logistics of studying at least one key form of population diversity (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, smoking status). Specific Aims of the CEC are to: Aim 1. Recruit advanced pre- doctoral, post-doctoral and new or early stage faculty investigators. Aim 2. Immerse and mentor TCORS jun- ior investigators within the USC-TCORS' four core research project teams to enhance training in the methodol- ogies and disciplines employed by TRS researchers. Aim 3 Provide pilot research funding to TCORS junior investigators to develop independent research projects. Aim 4 Promote core TRS competencies and profes- sional skill building. Aim 5 Evaluate and refine the Center's career enhancement program. The end goal will be that USC-TCORS junior investigators will develop careers in TRS whereby they produce impactful work that guides FDA regulation that benefits the health of the population as a whole.