Training Grant in Academic Nutrition

Project Summary/Abstract This renewal application for the Training Grant in Academic Nutrition brings together the outstanding faculty and extensive resources of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, fosters close interactions between trainees and faculty, and includes 38 faculty preceptors across various nutrition disciplines. The Principal Investigators, Drs. Frank Hu and Christopher Duggan, have designed a robust and rigorous pre- and postdoctoral training program. The Training Program has successfully recruited an exceptional cadre of applicants who demonstrate intellectual promise and a strong commitment to nutritional science research. Our program provides training in four key areas: Precision Nutrition (including multiple -omics methods), Human/Clinical Nutrition, Nutritional Epidemiology, and Public Health Nutrition. Our overall goal is to incorporate concepts, approaches, and tools from both basic and applied science, enabling trainees to transcend conventional specialty boundaries. This Training Program is designed both for individuals who have recently completed their master’s or undergraduate degree and are entering a formal doctoral program, and for physicians and graduates of other doctoral programs who will enter an intensive research training program with options to obtain additional formal degrees. Regardless of track, all degree candidates must successfully complete didactic coursework that covers both basic biochemical and molecular concepts and advanced training in quantitative sciences, such as epidemiology and biostatistics. All trainees participate in demanding hands-on preceptor-guided nutritional science research guided by well-funded nutrition scientists. Trainees of this program, of whom 26% are from under-represented groups, have demonstrated a strong record of publication and success in obtaining grants and faculty positions. For over 30 years, our program has trained numerous national and international leaders in academia, governmental and non- governmental organizations. In this competing renewal, we aim to support 3 predoctoral and 3 postdoctoral trainees annually over the next five years in the excellent academic environment of HSPH and HMS.