CAM Research Training in Neuroscience & Stress

PROJECT SUMMARY The CAM Research Training in Neuroscience and Stress T32 program will continue to utilize ongoing cross-institutional collaborations to provide a multidisciplinary setting for training both basic and clinical CAM researchers. Oregon Health & Science University formally houses the training grant and most of the faculty across multiple departments, but some faculty have primary appointments at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University and the National University of Natural Medicine. The CAM research training program will build upon other NIH funded educational programs located at Oregon Health & Science University and has access to many excellent core resources including, most importantly, the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute that is sponsored by a Clinical and Translational Science Award. The positions funded will be 6 positions per year for fellows recently obtaining a clinical doctorate degree or a PhD, targeting approximately equal numbers of clinical and basic science researchers. The mentors include many established researchers who have done funded research in areas of CAM along with neuroscience or stress. There are additionally some less well- established CAM researchers and well-established non-CAM researchers who will be part of the program. To ensure adequate mentorship, those trainees wanting to do research with these faculty will be assigned dual mentors to ensure high quality research in a CAM-related project. This training program will continue the tradition of cooperation amongst the CAM and neuroscience community in Oregon and at OHSU that has led to strong research and educational programs and that fosters collaborations across departments, schools and institutions. The specific activities of the T32 program include coursework, a focused journal club, an annual retreat, and in depth research training with mentors’ laboratories. Trainees will learn scientific writing, specific research methodologies individualized for each trainee and have guidance on their career planning. In addition, trainees coming from this program will have the ability to interact with those who do CAM research in neuroscience or stress, be it at the cellular, whole animal, or human level of analysis, and to understand the scientific literature from all of these areas.