NUTRITION TRAINING

Project Summary The importance of nutritional sciences to improving the public’s health has never been more evident. With two-thirds of the US population overweight or obese, the burden of chronic diseases, including diabetes, is increasing and the economic, social and human costs are significant and growing. With initiatives such as Nutrition for Precision Health, NIH seeks to transform nutritional sciences through innovative research on nutrition, dietary patterns and the effect of nutrition on the microbiome. There is a continuing national need for researchers who take a multifaceted approach to solve the most pressing questions, who understand the translation from basic to clinical levels of inquiry, and who contribute to translation of scientific discovery to evidence-based nutrition policy and practice. The proposed training program in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University addresses this need by preparing trainees to produce interdisciplinary science that can drive impact across the translational spectrum from basic sciences to clinical and public health. The training program, with positions for 4 predoctoral trainees per year, is built on Cornell’s nutrition doctoral program, which emphasizes multidisciplinary and integrative scholarship across the biological, physical, behavioral, and social sciences. The 30 trainers participating in this application represent the broad range of disciplines necessary to achieve the goals of the training program and include renowned scientists with expertise spanning from genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry to epidemiology, psychology, and economics. The trainers have active research programs and excellent training records. The proposed training program includes a core curriculum (Grant Writing and Translational Research and Evidence-based Policy and Practice in Nutrition) that is complemented by the WHO/Cochrane/Cornell Summer Institute for Systematic Reviews in Nutrition for Global Policy Making. Trainees also submit an NIH F31 predoctoral application and participate in three enrichment activities including monthly trainee meetings, hosting an annual invited speaker, and organizing an annual half-day symposium. As part of the translational research training, trainees are co-mentored for at least one project in their dissertation. To meet national needs through doctoral training, the training program includes a combined PhD-RD training component for 1 trainee per year that comprises the above program elements and a short translational research or policy experience. The infrastructure to support the proposed training program is well-established, with added strengths from new faculty members with research programs in molecular nutrition, microbiome, proteomics, computational biology and nutrition and health inequalities. Highly successful partnerships with the World Health Organization and Cochrane significantly enhance Cornell’s capabilities in translational science and evidence synthesis. These new and continuing strengths support the program’s objectives to create an unparalleled training experience in the nutritional sciences and prepare the next generation of nutrition scientists.