Document text
Principal Investigator: Allan L Reiss
Organization: STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $343,091
Funding agency: National Institute of Mental Health
This application represents a competitive renewal of a highly-successful institutional postdoctoral training grant
based in Stanford's Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research (CIBSR), under the direction of Dr.
Allan Reiss. The training program is situated within an exceptionally diverse and research-intensive environment
that is designed to facilitate the development of a new-generation of investigators who have the knowledge and
skills necessary to conduct innovative, interdisciplinary research at the forefront of child psychiatry and
neurodevelopment. Physician (MD, PhD) and PhD candidates who have the potential to develop highly
productive preclinical, clinical or translational research careers are preferentially recruited and accepted into the
program. Physician candidates are eligible if they have completed at least three years of psychiatry, pediatrics
or neurology training and/or wish to combine the T32 program with their current clinical residency or fellowship
training. PhD candidates are eligible if they have completed their doctorate with distinction in relevant fields
including psychology, neuroscience and computational (data) sciences. Candidates who articulate a strong
desire to further develop their expertise, experience and productivity to address critical precision medicine
themes in pediatric neuropsychiatry and neurodevelopment are preferentially selected.
The program is now in its 26th year. Twenty-nine postgraduate trainees (5 MDs, 2 MD/PhDs and 22 PhDs)
have been in the program in the past 15 years. We successfully attained all predefined metrics during the current
grant period. The program attracted a very large pool of first-rate applicants (n=75), filled all funded slots (four
per year, total of 10 fellows through May 2020), retained all trainees for 2-3 years (except one fellow who is
joining the faculty after one year), and prepared trainees for successful careers as independent investigators.
We also continue to diversify the assignment of mentors and consider co-mentorship the “norm”. Though
topically-focused, the scientific scope of the program is broad, with basic, clinical and translational research-
oriented fellows. Several new junior mentors (who will “partner” with senior mentors) have been added, including
three faculty who are graduates of Stanford postdoctoral fellowships. We remain committed to attracting trainees
who come from an underrepresented minority background (two of 10 in the current period).
During the next 5-year grant period, we will train an additional 9-11 fellows. Plans to increase MD or MD/PhD
recruitment from the current 2 of 10 fellows have been established. To meet our goal of significantly expanding
the knowledge base and methods of each trainee, we will continue to establish individually tailored didactic,
mentorship and research plans for each fellow while promoting cross-fertilization of scientific knowledge across
the trainee class. Using this approach, we focus the trainee's curriculum and research training on bridging
traditional, between-discipline gaps in methodology, and on focusing on the application of interdisciplinary
solutions to complex precision medicine issues in child psychiatry and neurodevelopment.
Terms: <Child Psychiatry><Neural Development><Research Training><neurodevelopment>