Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Behavioral and Neuropsychological Aspects of Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes

Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Behavioral and Neuropsychological Aspects of Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes

The Section of Psychology in the Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas seek a full-time Post-Doctoral Clinical Research Fellow with a focus on behavioral and neuropsychological aspects of Type 1 diabetes (T1D). This position is for one to two years, with the option of subsequent year(s), contingent on performance.  The fellowship is funded through an NIH Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (K12) to Barbara Anderson, Ph.D.  Neuropsychologist David Schwartz, Ph.D., ABPP co-directs this fellowship program.

The Fellowship is a comprehensive mentored career development program in T1D behavioral research.  It is built around three primary objectives: 1) Developing an understanding of the ‘lived experience’ of T1D within the context of normal child and family development; 2) Developing an understanding of the neurobiology of T1D and neuropsychological risk and resilience factors; and 3) Developing basic grant writing skills.  Fellows will be mentored by an interdisciplinary team of senior faculty from Psychology, Neuropsychology, and Pediatric Endocrinology.

The fellow will participate in a variety of training and supervision experiences including weekly research mentoring, a structured didactic program, and multidisciplinary case conferences. The program provides extensive core training in research methods, neurobiology of T1D, and theories/methods of health behavior change.  In addition, didactic experiences specific to the fellow’s training goals will be offered, with opportunities for specialty training in important emerging areas such as functional neuroimaging and technology-based approaches to adherence. The Fellow will be mentored in developing and writing a K- or R-level grant for submission to NIH. There also are opportunities for advanced coursework at outstanding academic institutions nearby, including the University of Texas School of Public Health, Rice University, and the University of Houston. 

Applicants must have earned a doctorate in Psychology with research training in Clinical, Cognitive, Developmental, Experimental, or Neuropsychology; be within 10 years of receiving their doctorate; and have a strong commitment to a career in clinical behavioral research in pediatric Type 1 diabetes.  Salary and benefits are highly competitive.

Fellowship Start date is negotiable. Interested applicants should email the following materials to the Research Fellowship Director at bja@bcm.edu and Research Fellowship Co-Director ddschwar@bcm.edu:

1.    Cover letter describing career goals and rationale for post-doctoral research training in T1D

2.    Curriculum vitae

Julio V. Santiago Lecturer

Date: August 9, 2013
Time: 9:15-10:30AM
Where: Clopton Auditorium, WOHL Building on the Washington University School of Medicine Campus (4950 Children's Place)

Julio V. Santiago, M.D., FAC, was Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine, Program Director of the Diabetes Research and Training Center, and the Director of the Pediatric General Clinical Research Center and the division of Pediatric Endocrinology. For over ten years, Dr. Santiago served on the NIH’s special programs for supporting research centers in minority institutions and as a special advisor to his alma mater, the School of Medicine of the University of Puerto Rico. He also lectured extensively on issues related to Latino Health in North America. Dr. Santiago received his undergraduate degree cum laude from Manhattan College and his M.D. degree magna cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico, where he also completed his internship. After military service in Korea as a brigade surgeon during the Vietnam War, he went on to complete his residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. He then completed a fellowship in metabolism and endocrinology at Washington University under Drs. David Kipnis and William Daughaday. Dr. Santiago was a fellow of the American College of Physicians, served as editor-in-chief of Diabetes and was the author of over 200 research publications.
Because of his unfailing devotion to diabetes research and patient care, and his invaluable contribution to the Washington University scientific community, we pause to honor his memory with this lecture. The speaker this year will be Barbara Anderson, PhD. Dr. Anderson is a Professor Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, at Baylor College of Medicine.

Training Needs in Response to Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Initiative

Additional Information:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HG-13-003.html

Purpose

The National Institutes of Health is launching Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K), an initiative to address how best to manage and utilize the large amounts of biomedical data that new technologies can generate (http://www.nih.gov/news/health/dec2012/od-07.htm). This initiative resulted from a set of recommendations from the Data and Informatics Working Group to the Advisory Committee to the Director, NIH (Data and Informatics Working Group). As part of the its response to the recommendations, NIH has established a working group to develop plans to implement new programs to increase training in this area, and this working group intends to convene a workshop to discuss training and education needs in how to manage and utilize large complex data sets. Prior to the workshop, NIH wishes to collect information and relevant materials that will help inform the discussions of the workshop participants.

Background

The era of ‘Big Data’ has arrived for biomedical research, bringing with it immense challenges as well as spectacular opportunities. In this context, ‘Big Data’ is meant to reflect the challenges facing biomedical researchers of all stripes in accessing, organizing, analyzing, and integrating datasets that are increasingly larger, more complex, and more numerous. These data are also of diverse types that must be integrated, including imaging, phenotypic, molecular, exposure, health, and many other types of biomedical, behavioral and clinical data. While used here for convenience, the phrase ‘Big Data’ is intended to be shorthand for the reality that biomedical research has become a data-intensive enterprise.

Advances in biomedical sciences using Big Data will require more scientists with appropriate expertise and skills, some of whom will be critical members of interdisciplinary teams. NIH is interested in increasing funding for long- and short-term training at all professional levels, in areas essential for accessing, organizing, analyzing, and integrating biomedical Big Data (e.g., computational biology, biostatistics, bioinformatics, the quantitative sciences, and related areas).

Information Requested

The workshop will address the long- and short-term training needs of professionals and trainees with the purposes of increasing the number of: (1) informaticians and computational and quantitative scientists who wish to apply their skills and knowledge in the biomedical, behavioral and clinical sciences and (2) biomedical, behavioral, and clinical scientists who have the requisite knowledge and skills to effectively access, organize, analyze, and integrate large and complex data sets. To aid in planning this workshop, responses are being sought from the extramural community on the following:

Characteristics and Contents of Plans for Cross-Training Biomedical, Behavioral, Clinical, Computational, and Quantitative Scientists and Informaticians at All Career Levels:

• Doctoral and postdoctoral training programs that will be needed to expand the capabilities of the targeted groups to use Big Data, with special attention to the training and mentoring environments.
• Short-term training, including course content that will be needed to cross-train the targeted groups and undergraduates.
• New curriculum and other training materials that will be needed to cross-train the targeted groups and undergraduates.

Understanding Type 2 Diabetes in Youth: Lessons from the TODAY Study

Dr. Neil H. White, M.D., C.D.E. did a talk on Monday January 28, 2013, entitled "Understanding Type 2 Diabetes in Youth: Lessons from the TODAY Study." If you'd like a copy of his power point presentation please click here: http://cdtr.wustl.edu/images/attachments/todayforcdtr012813.pdf.

Dr. White is a Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Pediatric Clinical Research Unit. His research interests have included active participation as a co-investigator and co-principal investigator of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) both at Washington University and the University of Michigan. He is currently the principal investigator at Washington University for the DCCT/EDIC study. Dr. White has had an ongoing interest in the methods of intensive therapy in Type 1 and the risk of hypoglycemia as part of the therapy. He oversees the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and the DPP Outcomes STUDY (DPPOS), multiple trials of psychosocial intervention in diabetic teenagers, the STOPP-T2D/TODAY study, related to treatment and prevention of Type 2 diabetes in youth TRIGR and is the Chairman of the Steering Committee and local PI for the Diabetes in Children Research Network (DirecNet).  In addition, Dr. White is the Associate Director of the Center for Diabetes Translation Research.

His talk coincided with a major news release entitled "Diabetic Kids' New Regimen: Push for Early Insulin Shots for Many Children Highlights Growing Cases of Type 2 Diabetes" found in the Wall Street Journal. For those interested in this article, please visit the following website: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323644904578267834224648420.html.

For a related article entitled "Psychosocial Resources and Barriers to Self-management in African American Adolescents with Type 2 Diabetes," please visit the following website: http://bit.ly/XFDNnT.

BSSR Lecture Series

Upcoming Lectures Winter 2013

• New Challenges for Big Data: How Monitoring Behaviors in the Home and Environment an drive the Discovery of Important Behavioral Markers and Influence Care
  Holly Jimison, Ph.D.
  January 24, 2013, 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
  Natcher Conference Center – NIH Main Campus, Building 45 Balcony A
  
  
• February 08, 2013 "Over the Life Course: The Integration of Research, Health Care, and Policy"
  Neal Halfon, MD, MPH
  1:30 PM to 3:00 PM
  Neuroscience Building, 6001 Executive Blvd, Rockville MD, Room A1/A2
  
  "The ACA and the Future of Health Care Research in the U.S"
  Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D.
  1:30 PM to 3:00 PM
  Neuroscience Building, 6001 Executive Blvd, Rockville MD, Room A1/A2
  
  
• Illustrative Mathematical Modeling in Scientific Workforce Analysis
  Navid Ghaffarzadegan. Ph.D.
  Joshua Hawley, Ph.D.
  Dick Larson, Ph.D.
  March 07, 2013, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
  Neuroscience Building, 6001 Executive Blvd, Rockville MD, Room A1/A2
  
  
• Population Wellbeing and the fundamental role of Inequality
  Sir Richard Wilkinson, Ph.D., M.D.
  March 08, 2013, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
  Neuroscience Building, 6001 Executive Blvd, Rockville MD, Room A1/A2

More information:
http://obssr.od.nih.gov/news_and_events/lectures_and_seminars/BSSR_lecture_series/seminars.aspx

Basic Behavioral Science Research in Obesity Meeting

April 24-25, 2013
NIH Campus, Building 31
Bethesda, MD

Registration Link:
http://www.scgcorp.com/Obesity2013

Agenda:

Christine Hunter, NIDDK
Chair: Len Epstein, Co-Chairs: Stephen Benoit and Elissa Epel

• Each talk will be 20 minutes followed by 5 minutes of topic-specific Q & A. After two talks, there will be a broader discussion for 20 minutes—the focus will be on how these areas relate to the broader goals of the meeting: (1) identify behavioral mechanisms relevant to obesity, including identifying interactions between biology, emotion, cognition, behavior, environmental, and social factors; (2) identify gaps in knowledge; and (3) identify novel targets to be tested and developed for intervention. We can develop a list of guiding questions to be projected during the discussion period. At the conclusion of each of the three sections, we will have a discussant to provide comments (10 minutes) and then lead a group discussion (25 minutes).   

More Information:
http://www2.niddk.nih.gov/News/Calendar/Obesity2013.htm

Follow up to Integrating Economic Analysis into NIH Funded Research Webinar

Additional Information:
https://commonfund.nih.gov/Healtheconomics/integrate_ecovid.aspx

Description:

Integrating Economic Analysis into NIH Funded Research, was held on September 11, 2012 by the NIH Health Economics Common Fund. In this webinar, three invited experts explored ways of integrating economic analyses into clinical research. A well-designed study of acute coronary syndrome and depression was re-examined in light of economic concepts and analysis. A lively and enlightening conversation among the featured speakers ensued concerning how economic analysis could be integrated into clinical research at the study design phase and the advantages of that for clinical research. Speakers concluded the webinar by addressing questions from online participants. See link for webinar, executive summary, and speaker links.