The program will be funded by $2.2 million over the next five years as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Roadmap for Medical Research. The Roadmap initiatives fall within three overarching themes. In fiscal year 2004, NIH awarded $64 million to projects within the New Pathways to Discovery theme, $27 million to Research Teams of the Future projects, and $38 million to projects within the Re-Engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise theme. The training program at HSPH falls under the Research Teams of the Future theme.

More information about the HSPH program is available at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/roadmap/.

"The goal of our training program is to develop a cadre of scientists who will participate at the intersection of molecular and cellular biology, genetic epidemiology, and biostatistics to become leaders in integrative and team approaches to understanding genetics and complex diseases in the public health arena," said Marianne Wessling-Resnick, professor of nutritional biochemistry in the Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, and the program’s director. Gökhan Hotamisligil, chair of the Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, will serve as co-director.

HSPH is seeking promising predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees to apply for the program. Positions are open to both U.S.-born and foreign applicants. Successful applicants will be called "HSPH Roadmap Fellows" at the School. Stipend and tuition support will be provided by the new grant.

Postdoctoral applicants should identify at least two faculty members drawn from different disciplines (molecular biology, epidemiology, and/or biostatistics) who can serve as mentors. Research proposals should involve the integration of these fields and may include projects already underway.

Predoctoral students will be primarily chosen from applicants admitted through the Ph.D. Program in Biological Sciences in Public Health (BPH), a program based at HSPH and offered through the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. These predoctoral trainees will follow the curriculum guidelines of the BPH program.

To undertake their investigations, trainees will have access to data from: Nurses’ Health Study, Nurses’ Health Study II, and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Trainees can be assisted in their research efforts by the genetic analyses of samples from these cohorts by the High-Throughput Polymorphism Detection Core, offered through the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. They can also complement their work with protein studies performed in conjunction with the HSPH Proteomics Facility, which is based in the Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases. Trainees will develop and implement methods for analyzing large amounts of genetic data with the aid of a newly launched Bioinformatics Core supported by the Department of Biostatistics at the School. Rounding out these research efforts will be the availability of integrated coursework, workshops, and a new seminar series.