Drug Dependence Through the Lifespan: US-Thai Training Program

描述（由申请人提供）：终生药物依赖：泰国-耶鲁培训计划药物依赖是一组慢性非传染性疾病，构成了全球公共卫生问题，给国际社会带来了巨大的经济、社会和医疗成本。发展中国家尤其受到不成比例的影响，因为与生产非法药物有关的经济激励，以及专门用于了解、治疗和预防药物依赖失调的体制基础设施（设施、人员和研究）不太完善，而这些问题往往是世界各区域特有的。在本次申请中，我们提出了泰国曼谷朱拉隆功大学医学院（泰国领先的医学研究中心）与美国耶鲁大学医学院在药物依赖方面的合作研究培训计划，针对泰国受训人员提出了三种主要的培训机制，包括长期（1-2年）的博士前和博士后奖学金，以及短期和中期（1-6个月）的迷你奖学金。在这个为期5年的项目中，朱拉隆功学院的培训责任随着经验的积累而增加，而耶鲁大学的培训责任则有所减少，因此在最后两年，泰国学院负责培养两名全职博士后。该项目建立在耶鲁大学医学院一个广泛的药物依赖研究项目的基础上，以及耶鲁大学和朱拉隆功大学研究人员在泰国人群药物依赖遗传学研究方面的现有培训和研究合作基础上。该项目将通过一系列培训经验（遗传学、流行病学、分子生物学、临床、发育和转化神经科学、精神药理学和临床试验以及卫生服务和评估研究），帮助朱拉隆功和泰国的研究人员开展最先进的药物依赖研究。该计划明确的长期目标将是在合作的中低收入国家培养一批具有专业知识和可持续研究环境的科学家、卫生专业人员和学者，以便更好地了解、治疗和预防由药物依赖引起的慢性非传染性疾病。该培训方案还特别旨在通过加强泰国应对其历史上前所未有的毒品依赖流行病的能力，为一项重大的公共卫生目标服务。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Drug Dependence Through the Lifespan: Thai-Yale Training Program Drug dependence is a set of chronic, non-communicable diseases that constitute a global public health problem of enormous economic, social, and medical cost to the international community. Developing countries, in particular, are disproportionately affected, due to both the economic incentives associated with the production of illicit drugs, and the less well-established institutional infrastructures (facilities, personnel, and research) dedicated to the understanding, treatment and prevention of drug dependence disorders - problems that are often specific to world regions. In this application, we propose a collaborative research training program in drug dependence between Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand (a leading medical research center in Thailand) and the Yale University School of Medicine in the U.S. Three major training mechanisms are proposed for Thai trainees, including long-term (1-2-yr) predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, and short and intermediate-term (1-6 months) mini-fellowships. Over the course of the five year program, training responsibility increases at Chulalongkorn (as experience builds) and decreases at Yale, such that in the final two years the Thai site is responsible for two postdoctoral FTEs. This program builds on an extensive research program in drug dependence at Yale University School of Medicine, and on existing training and research collaborations between investigators at Yale and investigators at Chulalongkorn in the study of the genetics of drug dependence in Thai populations. The program will contribute to the capacity of investigators at Chulalongkorn and more generally in Thailand to conduct state-of-the-art research in substance dependence through a range of training experiences (genetics, epidemiology, molecular biology, clinical, developmental, and translational neuroscience, psychopharmacology and clinical trials, and health services and evaluation research). The explicit long-term goal of the program will be to build a critical mass of scientists, health professionals, and academics with expertise and a sustainable research environment at the collaborating lower-middle income country to understand better, treat, and prevent the chronic non- communicable disease of drug dependence. The training program is also specifically designed to serve a major public health purpose by enhancing Thailand's capacity to confront an epidemic of drug dependence that is unprecedented in its history. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: It is critically important to train a generation of researchers in Thailand who are equipped to address the issue of substance dependence in its various manifestations throughout the lifespan. The present proposal addresses this need by training researchers in the US, and by building capacity for future training at Chulalongkorn Faculty of Medicine, in Thailand.