Training in Maternal and Child Nutrition

 描述(申请人提供)：自25年前首次资助该培训计划以来，母婴营养(MCN)面临的具体问题并未消失，而是继续存在关键挑战，并出现了新的挑战。因此，仍然迫切需要了解不仅要了解如何预防育龄妇女和幼儿的营养问题，而且还要了解如何减轻这些问题对妇女及其子女今后健康的影响。拟议的方案具有重要意义，因为在短期内，它将填补MCN培训方面的一个主要空白，而从长期来看，由该方案培训的个人应该填补在产生和解释关于MCN的综合研究方面的一个主要空白。我们建议通过利用康奈尔大学营养科学系著名研究生项目的资源来培训4名学员(3名博士后和1名博士后)，康奈尔大学营养学系是美国致力于人类营养的最大学术单位之一。拟议中的项目将由其长期项目主任凯瑟琳·M·拉斯穆森博士负责运营，并由一个由三名成员组成的共同培训者执行委员会提供协助。方案监督将由该司的外部咨询委员会提供。学员将由总共13名培训员指导，他们拥有积极的研究计划和模范的培训记录。共同培训者在与母婴传播有关的广泛学科中拥有不同但互补的技能，以及在培训和研究方面彼此合作的长期历史。学员将完成由3门研究生课程组成的核心课程：母婴营养学、补助金写作、翻译研究和营养学中的循证政策与实践。这些课程将得到高度重视的MCN研究论坛每周会议的补充，还将提供负责任的研究行为培训。使用个性化专业发展计划和我们创新的合作项目，将进一步提高学员的职业和领导力发展，以及他们面对不断变化的研究环境的应变能力。该部门为拟议的计划提供了一流的设施，包括设备齐全的实验室、动物设施、门诊代谢室、创新的质谱学设施以及对统计计算的广泛支持。学员还可以使用校园内的共享研究设施，以及专注于从脊椎动物基因组学到食品和营养政策等主题的学术中心和研究所。作为拟议计划的结果，博士后和博士后实习生将能够识别MCN中最重要的问题，通过他们的研究解决这些问题，并有效地将他们的研究结果转化为新的政策和适当的行动。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Since this training program was first funded 25 y ago, the specific problems that confront maternal and child nutrition (MCN) have not gone away, but rather crucial challenges continue to exist and new ones have emerged. As a result, there remains a compelling need to understand not only how to prevent nutritional problems in women of childbearing age and young children but also how to mitigate the effects of these problems on the later health of both women and their children. The proposed program is significant because, in the short term, it will fill a major gap in training in MCN and, in the long term, individuals trained by this program should fill a major gap in producing and interpreting integrative research on MCN. We propose to train 4 (3 predoctoral and 1 postdoctoral) trainees by leveraging the resources of the renowned graduate program in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, one of the largest academic units devoted to human nutrition in the country. The proposed program will be run by its long-time Program Director, Dr. Kathleen M. Rasmussen, with assistance from a 3-member Executive Committee of co-trainers. Program oversight will be provided by the Division's External Advisory Board. Trainees will be mentored by a total of 13 trainers, who have active research programs as well as an exemplary training record. The co-trainers have differing yet complementary skills in a wide range of disciplines related to MCN as well as a long history of collaboration with one another in both training and research. Trainees will complete a core curriculum consisting of 3 graduate-level courses: Topics in Maternal and Child Nutrition, Grant Writing, and Translational Research and Evidence-based Policy and Practice in Nutrition. These courses will be supplemented by the highly valued weekly meeting of the MCN Research Forum and also training in the responsible conduct of research. Use of an individualized Professional Development Plan along with our innovative Collaborative Projects will further enhance the trainees' career and leadership development as well as their resilience in the face of a changing environment for research. Excellent facilities are available in the Division for the proposed program, including well-equipped laboratories, animal facilities, an outpatient metabolic unit, an innovative mass spectroscopy facility and extensive support for statistical computing. Trainees will also have access to shared research facilities throughout the campus and academic centers and institutes that focus on subjects that range from vertebrate genomics to food and nutrition policy. As a result of the proposed program, pre- and postdoctoral trainees will be able to identify the most important problems in MCN, address them with their research, and effectively translate the results of their research into novel policies an appropriate actions.