UCSD's short-term research training programs for trainees at different levels of career development

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry
• Medical Education
• Research Workforce Development

Background:

• Critical need for new researchers in psychiatry, particularly geriatric psychiatry.
• Existing research training programs often focus on post-doctoral levels and have limitations in expanding investigator pools.
• Short-term research training programs offer a valuable alternative.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe successful short-term research training programs.
• To compare characteristics of different training models.
• To highlight the potential for expanding the pool of psychiatric researchers.

Main Methods:

• Coordination of three federally funded summer research programs at the University of California, San Diego.
• Programs include trainees at various levels: undergraduate, graduate, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty.
• Comparison of program characteristics, including Summer Training on Aging Research Topics-Mental Health (START-MH), Stein Institute for Research on Aging (SIRA) Medical Student Training In Aging Research (MSTAR), and Summer Research Institute (SRI) in Geriatric Psychiatry.

Main Results:

• High success in attracting talented trainees across different educational levels.
• Participants found the training experiences highly useful.
• Positive short-term effects on research career development observed.

Conclusions:

• Short-term research training programs offer promising models for expanding the scientific workforce in psychiatry and related fields.
• These initiatives can effectively attract and train future researchers.
• Future plans and limitations of this approach are discussed.