Cardiovascular Epidemiology Training Program

Project Summary/Abstract This proposal is the competing continuation of the University of Pittsburgh T32 Training Program in Cardiovascular Epidemiology funded by NHLBI since 2008. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death despite a >50% decline in age-adjusted CVD mortality in the past 6 decades. Unfortunately, recent reports suggest that CVD mortality is plateauing. This Program thus addresses the critical need to promote epidemiological research of CVD. The primary goal of our Program is to train individuals in CVD epidemiology, based on pathophysiological understanding and experiential learning, who are skilled and inspired to improve on existing and develop new prevention strategies. Our philosophy is to provide a core foundation of didactic training in epidemiology focusing on subclinical atherosclerosis, and CVD biomarkers/outcomes with strong methodological skills, customized to each trainee. Our Program is organized around 3 Research Cores: 1) subclinical atherosclerosis, 2) biostatistics & epidemiological methods and 3) CVD biomarkers/outcomes, grounded in 6 areas of strength: 1) vascular aging, 2) women’s health, 3) high-risk & international populations, 4) nutrition & environment, 5) physical activity and 6) psychosocial factors. To address novel opportunities in epidemiological research, for this competing renewal, our Program plans to expand our programmatic focus on and incorporate experiences for trainees in using Big Data and omics for which we have rich faculty expertise. Doing so will position our trainees to be independent CVD epidemiologists in a multidisciplinary research setting, competent in traditional and novel epidemiological methods. Trainees will have a primary mentor, work closely with other faculty members and be assigned a more experienced trainee peer mentor. The Program consists of coursework, research field work and professional development, all individually tailored to each trainee. Research fieldwork includes data collection, management and analysis. Professional development includes remote training, grant writing experience, manuscript preparation, participation in national conferences, skill development workshops and training in the Responsible Conduct of Research. The Program is designed to produce investigators skilled in a multidisciplinary approach to research in cardiovascular epidemiology, who are comfortable with using subclinical atherosclerosis, or CVD biomarkers/outcomes data in cross-discipline collaborations. This Program will continue to include 4 pre-doctoral and 2 post-doctoral positions in epidemiology.