Biostatistics for Research in Environmental Health

描述（由申请人提供） 这个为期5年的计划旨在培养博士前（博士）在三个不同但相关的领域：环境生物统计学（BIOS），环境流行病学（EPID）和环境暴露评估（ENVR）的学生和博士后研究员。该培训计划的跨学科目标是让科学家们做好准备，以应对环境健康研究中出现的挑战，重点是开发工具，利用现在常规可用的丰富和高维信息。 总体目标是提高对环境和其他暴露（如饮食和体力活动）影响的认识，以便通过预防和更好的临床护理来影响公众健康。 我们越来越需要在统计学、流行病学和基础科学方面有很强技能的科学家，沿着有能力理解和翻译他们发现的临床意义。 一个关键的组成部分是通过创造性地使用新兴技术来测量基因表达，代谢物水平和整个基因组的单核苷酸多态性，从而更好地了解个体在环境影响中的异质性。 沿着环境暴露的详细测量，这些工具允许仔细研究基因与环境的相互作用，这具有很大的临床重要性，因为干预措施可能越来越多地由遗传因素驱动，以优化疗效。 BIOS的目标是训练生物统计学家掌握一般统计方法，包括分析和可视化非常高维数据的新方法。此外，重点将是生物学激发的方法的使用，允许整合来自多个来源的数据。 EPID的目标是培训科学家进行环境影响研究，充分利用和理解现有的统计和技术工具，同时也解决上述转化目标。 ENVR的目标是培训环境科学家进行生物和统计方法的研究，以评估环境暴露对人类健康的影响。 典型的博士前实习生将拥有学士或硕士学位，并具有适合三个培训领域之一的优秀学术记录，典型的博士后实习生将接受高度相关的博士培训。 申请资助的目的是在5年内每年资助20名博士前学员（8名BIOS、6名EPID、6名ENVR）和8名博士后学员（2名BIOS、3名EPID、3名ENVR）。 生物统计学，流行病学和环境科学与工程系，在排名第二的公共卫生学院的三个最大和最认可的部门，有足够的人员和设施提供全面的博士前和博士后培训。 背景 该提案是一个大型的，既定的，成功的培训计划，跨越三个不同的部门，涵盖三个领域：环境生物统计学，环境流行病学和环境暴露评估的竞争延续。 该计划在培训和安置成功的研究人员在学术，政府，行业和咨询职位在这三个领域都非常成功。 该方案已经实施了35年，并在过去29年中不断得到资助。 拟议的方案将博士前培训生的人数从2005-2006年的30人减少到20人，将博士后培训生的人数从2005-2006年的4人增加到8人。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) This 5-year program is designed to train predoctoral (Ph.D.) students and postdoctoral fellows in three distinct but related areas: Environmental Biostatistics (BIOS), Environmental Epidemiology (EPID), and Environmental Exposure Assessment (ENVR). The interdisciplinary goal of this training program is to prepare scientists to address emerging challenges in environmental health research, with an emphasis on the development of tools for harnessing the rich and high-dimensional information that is now routinely available. The overarching goal is to improve the understanding of effects of environmental and other exposures, such as diet and physical activity, in order to impact public health through prevention and better clinical care. Increasingly, we need scientists with strong skills in statistics, epidemiology and basic science, along with an ability to understand and translate the clinical implications of their findings. A critical component is a better understanding of heterogeneity among individuals in environmental effects through the creative use of emerging technologies for measuring gene expression, levels of metabolites, and single nucleotide polymorphisms across the genome. Along with detailed measures of environmental exposures, these tools allow careful study of gene by environment interaction, which has great clinical importance, as interventions may be increasingly driven by genetic factors in order to optimize efficacy. The BIOS goal is to train biostatisticians in general statistical methods, including new approaches for analyzing and visualizing very high-dimensional data. In addition, a focus will be on use of methods motivated by the biology, allowing integration of data from multiple sources. The EPID goal is to train scientists in conducting studies of environmental effects, fully utilizing and understanding the statistical and technological tools available, while also addressing the translational goals described above. The ENVR goal is to train environmental scientists to conduct research on biological and statistical methods for assessing environmental exposures as they relate to human health effects. The typical pre-doctoral trainee will have a Bachelor's or Master's degree with an excellent academic record appropriate for one of the three training areas, and the typical postdoctoral trainee will have highly relevant doctoral training. Funding is requested for the support of 20 pre-doctoral trainees for each of 5 years (8 BIOS, 6 EPID, 6 ENVR) and for 8 postdoctoral trainees (2 BIOS, 3 EPID, 3 ENVR). The Departments of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, the three largest and most recognized departments in the 2nd-ranked UNC School of Public Health, have available all the personnel and facilities sufficient to provide comprehensive pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training. BACKGROUND This proposal is a competing continuation of a large, established, and successful training program spanning three different departments and covering three areas: environmental biostatistics, environmental epidemiology, and environmental exposure assessment. The program has been very successful in training and placing successful researchers in academic, government, industry, and consulting positions in each of the three areas. The program has been in place for 35 years and continually funded for the last 29 years. The proposed program reduces the number of pre-doctoral trainees from thirty in 2005-2006 to twenty and increases the number of postdoctoral trainees from four in 2005-2006 to eight.