Clinician Scientist Training Program (CSTP)

Project Summary/Abstract The Yale Division of Addictions, Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine requests a 6th 5-year renewal for our Clinician Scientist Training Program, which has been providing intensive training in research methods for clinical and translational investigation of drug abuse since 1991. Presently, the Clinician Scientist Training Program supports three early career faculty members engaged in various aspects of drug abuse research with a focus on treatment development. The support will permit the Clinician Scientists to spend 3-5 years at Yale’s Division of Substance Abuse obtaining clinical and research training under the mentorship of a team of 53 senior investigators whose interests range from molecular neurobiology to health services research. With about 100 externally funded research projects, the central theme of our research program is the development and evaluation of innovative pharmacological and behavioral treatments for individuals with drug addictions in a manner informed by emerging neuroscientific findings. Our multidisciplinary, translational program enables us to conduct research that moves rapidly in both directions from preclinical projects (“bench”) to clinical studies (“bedside”). The training goal for this program is to provide Clinician Scientist Scholars at the junior faculty level with an opportunity to devote virtually full-time effort during the initial phase of their careers to learning research skills and conducting research projects as a critical step toward launching careers as independent research scientists. After initial work conducted with the support of this program, they will be guided to develop scientifically meritorious research proposals (using, for example, R21 and R01 mechanisms) which will provide support for research that extends beyond the period of the program. Since the onset of the program, we have provided training for 37 Clinician Scientists, many of whom are among the leaders of their generation of drug abuse investigators.