Graduate Research Training on Alcohol Problems

This proposal reflects the renewal of an NIAAA-funded alcohol training program at the Alcohol Research Group (ARG) in operation since 1971, which has provided 279 fellows with training and support. The main goal is to continue to support a program designed to prepare trainees for a path of active research in alcohol studies. This will be accomplished by offering applicants with backgrounds in public health, epidemiology, psychology, sociology, social welfare, economics, and related professional disciplines the opportunity to carry out their own research and grant-writing with the support of a collegial and highly interactive environment of researchers and faculty actively working in the alcohol field. The Director of Training is Dr. William Kerr, a Senior Scientist at ARG and Director of NIAAA National Alcohol Research Center Epidemiology of Alcohol Problems. Our program focuses primarily on training in the incidence, prevalence, and etiology of alcohol use, use disorders and related problems and secondarily on alcohol-related health services and alcohol policy research. Fellows learn from an intensive period of residence and involvement in the research environment and activities of the Alcohol Research Group and it’s long-standing NIAAA National Alcohol Research Center. ARG’s research focii reflect the Program aims and include the social epidemiology of alcohol problems and alcohol-related health services and policy research. Fellows also benefit from participation in mentorship, research, and training opportunities at the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, where the program resides and at collaborating institutions UCSF, UCLA and San Jose State University. Three postdoctoral and 3 predoctoral fellows are supported by the program annually, with most in residence for 2 years. Predoctoral fellows complete a dissertation on an alcohol-related topic, while postdoctoral fellows publish papers, conduct new research, and submit NIAAA grant applications. Fellows are advised and actively mentored by our 16 Training Faculty at ARG, UC Berkeley and collaborating institutions. All trainees attend and contribute to a weekly Advanced Alcohol Research Seminar, a formal course offered at ARG via UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Other program components include graduate courses at UC Berkeley, a Grant-Writing Seminar, visiting speakers, in-house statistical and other trainings and training in the responsible conduct of research. The proposed renewal would continue the only NIAAA-funded T32 training program to focus broadly on the epidemiology of alcohol-related problems.