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Candidate Information

Predoctoral Applicants

The Training Program is designed to attract predoctoral applicants with strong undergraduate records in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and to offer them advanced training in both the classroom and the laboratory to prepare them for productive careers in Environmental Health Science. Application information for the school and the BPH program can be found at the following link, Admissions (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/admissions.html).

This Training Program has specific requirements for all predoctoral students, but continues to offer students the flexibility and opportunity to choose from a broad group of preceptors and research areas. Students are required to sample research training options by completing a minimum of three (and a maximum of four) laboratory rotations. The experience of research rotations with at least three mentored laboratories equips the student with the information needed to select a research area and a training preceptor that best matches the student's interests, needs, and career goals.

TYPICAL ACADEMIC SCHEDULE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH GRADUATE STUDENTS:

First Year

Fall:Three full courses; begin lab rotations; Interdepartmental seminar

Spring: Two or three full courses; lab rotations; Interdepartmental seminar

Summer: Finish lab rotations; choose lab and preceptor

Second Year

Fall: Two or three full courses; begin thesis research

Spring: Elective courses; Preliminary Qualifying Exam

Summer: PQE completed Thesis Research

Third and Subsequent Years:

Continue thesis research; elective course optional ; report to Thesis Advisory Committee every six months

Postdoctoral Candidates

The presence of postdoctoral trainees has enriched the mentoring environment enormously. This is becoming even more critical as environmental health bench science is beginning to rely upon systems approaches, utilizing larger resources, and launching cross-disciplinary studies. The postdoctoral mentor will be responsible for the vast majority of the research and advanced training of the postdoctoral fellows. Most candidates contact a specific preceptor out of interest in the person's research program.

All Fellows entering the Training Program are required to attend the Departmental Seminar Series, which provides a format for discussion of current ongoing research, including both basic molecular and epidemiologic approaches to problems in environmental health. Opportunities to attend workshops and interdisciplinary seminars are also provided, including the multiple seminar series available in the Harvard Medical Area. The trainees are also expected to attend weekly laboratory meetings and journal clubs under the supervision of their chosen preceptor. The Fellows are also required to attend the annual Training Program Retreat.

Postdoctoral Fellows will be appointed for a minimum of two years. A third year of support is optional, pending evaluation on the basis of accomplishment and participation in the communal activities.

Training Activities For All Trainees

· Division of Biological Sciences Distinguished Lecture Series:

This Monthly series is organized by Dr. Marianne Wessling-Resnick. The Distinguished Lecturer spends the day at HSPH, meeting one-on-one with interested faculty, and importantly, having lunch with the BPH graduate students (with no faculty present). A reception before the lecture provides an opportunity for the postdoctoral fellows to speak with the visitor, and after the lecture there is a dinner with a group of fellows, students, and faculty. This program continues to be a major success and helps nurture the feeling of community in the BPH program. It has been funded in part by the HSPH Dean's Office.

· Division of Toxicology and Laboratory

Seminar speakers visit HSPH for the entire day, meeting with faculty, postdocs, and students, in addition to giving their seminar.

· Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention Seminar Series:

This Center, directed by Dr. David Hunter, is a truly interdisciplinary enterprise involving the basic, numerical and social sciences, and involving HSPH and HMS scientists. Using this venue, Dr. Hunter has organized seminars and lectures that are specifically designed to bring together faculty, students and postdocs from epidemiology and the basic sciences. Within the Center there is an emphasis on molecular (genetic) epidemiology, and gene-environmental interactions.

· Seminars in the Interdisciplinary Concentration in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology

Dr. Karl Kelsey and Dr. David Hunter, the co-Directors of the concentration at HSPH, organize these seminars. They are primarily intended for the graduate student members of the concentration, but are open to the entire HSPH community. They complement the Center for Cancer Prevention series, but include other aspects of epidemiology, clearly germane to this Environmental Health Training Program.

· Nutritional Biochemistry Seminars:

The seminar speaker visits for the entire day, meeting with faculty, postdocs, and students, in addition to giving their seminar.

Other Seminars

Harvard Medical School:

Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Seminars
Pathology Seminars
Genetics Seminars
BCMP/Cell Biology Seminars