RAND Mini-Medical School for Social Scientists

描述（由申请人提供）：自1998年以来，兰德在加州的圣莫尼卡举办了一个社会科学家小型医学院（MiniMed）。该计划的动机是认识到，如果有一个健全的生物医学基础，对老龄化的行为和社会研究是更好的知情和最终更有用。MiniMed由国家和国际专家就老龄化研究人员感兴趣的各种生物医学主题举办的为期两天的系列讲座组成。该活动与第二次老龄化人口学、经济学和流行病学研讨会同时举行。这两个研讨会的结合不仅减少了组织费用，但更重要的是，有助于吸引学者谁否则可能不会参加任何程序。MiniMed的参与者包括大学的初级和高级教师、老龄问题博士后和博士前学员以及非营利基金会和机构的研究人员。过去的讲座涵盖了衰老过程，遗传学和生物学等不同的主题，以及与影响老年人的特定条件有关的最新研究，如癌症，痴呆症，心血管疾病和糖尿病。每次讲座都强调生物医学知识，可以为老年人的社会科学研究提供信息。这笔会议赠款将支持这一备受好评的计划持续五年。每年，我们将邀请六位演讲者和65名参与者在圣莫尼卡进行为期两天的生物医学主题演讲。另外30名与会者将被邀请参加，费用由他们自己承担。未来的项目将把我们的影响力扩展到创新的新领域，包括个性化医疗，老龄化人口中的肥胖症和干细胞研究，同时仍然保持MiniMed作为一个论坛，帮助社会科学家学习，理解和解释与他们的研究相关的医学知识。兰德“社会科学家微型医学院”将为社会科学家提供基础和前沿生物医学研究。该计划将促进对医疗保健感兴趣的年轻研究人员的培训，以及寻求拓宽跨学科研究视角的高级研究人员。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Since 1998, RAND has hosted a Mini-Medical School for Social Scientists (MiniMed) in Santa Monica, California. This program is motivated by the recognition that behavioral and social research on aging is better informed and ultimately more useful if it has a sound biomedical basis. MiniMed consists of a two-day series of lectures by national and international experts on diverse biomedical topics of interest to researchers in aging. The event is held in conjunction with a second workshop on the demography, economics, and epidemiology of aging. The combination of these two workshops not only reduces organizational expenses, but, more importantly, serves to attract scholars who might otherwise not attend either program. MiniMed participants include junior and senior faculty at universities, post-doctoral and pre-doctoral trainees in aging, and researchers from non-profit foundations and institutions. Past lectures have covered such diverse topics as the aging process, genetics, and biology, as well as the latest research related to specific conditions that affect the elderly such as cancer, dementia, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Each lecture emphasizes biomedical knowledge that could inform social science research on the elderly. This conference grant would support the continuation of this well-regarded program for five years. Each year, we would invite six speakers and 65 participants for two days of lecturers on biomedical topics in Santa Monica. Another 30 participants would be invited with their own funding. Future programs will extend our reach into innovative new areas including personalized medicine, obesity in an aging population, and stem cell research while still maintaining MiniMed as a forum to help social scientists learn, understand, and interpret medical knowledge relevant to their research. The RAND "Mini Medical School for Social Scientists" will provide social scientists with exposure to both fundamental and cutting-edge biomedical research. The program will facilitate the training of young researchers with interests in health care, as well as more senior researchers seeking to broaden their interdisciplinary research perspective.