NIEHS Training Program in Environmental Health Sciences

OVERVIEW

The mission of the training program is to actively prepare research scientists to become future leaders of individual and interdisciplinary research projects that seek to understand the role environmental exposures play in the etiology and exacerbation of human disease at the individual and population level. The mission will be accomplished by providing support for pre- and postdoctoral trainees involved in research on the role of exposures to environmental agents (e.g. various chemicals, metals, particulates, fungal or bacterial-derived toxicants) as causative agents or co-factors in human disease.

Trainee research will focus on one or more of the following:

• Mechanisms of exposures to environmental agents that alter biological processes that contribute to disease pathobiology
• Development of biomarkers of disease pathobiology (e.g. biomarkers of response, effect, and susceptibility to toxic agents)
• Development of intervention strategies based upon mechanistic studies to prevent adverse effects that contribute to disease caused by exposure to environmental agents
• Epidemiology to identify population-based associations of environmental agents with disease

Research of the training faculty is focused on investigations on the contributions of environmental agents to the following diseases:

• Cancer
• Immune System Diseases
• Neurological Diseases
• Pulmonary and Cardiovascular Diseases
• Reproductive and Developmental Diseases

The research being conducted by the faculty together with predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees addresses one or more of the following:

• Mechanisms of disease pathobiology
• Development of biomarkers of the pathobiology (e.g. biomarkers of response, effect, susceptibility)
• Development of prevention intervention strategies
• Disease epidemiology

As of May 2007, this NIEHS Training Program (ES07141) had supported 62 former predoctoral and 24 former postdoctoral trainees since 1996. Forty-three former predoctoral and 20 former postdoctoral trainees are in career positions in the private sector/industry, government or academia. Combined, current and former trainees have published over 300 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters.

HOW TO APPLY

Individuals interested in training in these areas and becoming a trainee supported by this training program must first be accepted into a doctoral program in either the departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Epidemiology or Environmental Health Sciences and plan to, or be working under, the mentorship of a member of the training faculty listed below. Such individuals may then be nominated for a predoctoral or postdoctoral position in this training program by their mentor. Applications to the doctoral and postdoctoral programs in these departments can be found at www.jhsph.edu/resources/prospective_students/ and clicking on Admissions. For more information on this training program, contact Kay Castleberry at kcastleb@jhsph.edu.


TRAINING FACULTY

* The departments of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS), Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) and Epidemiology (EPI) are in the School of Public Health. EHS is an interdisciplinary department with four divisions/program areas: Environmental Health Engineering (EHE), Occupational & Environmental Health (OEH), Physiology (PHYS), and Toxicology (TOX).

** Drs. Baylin and Casero have primary appointments in the Departments of Oncology and Comparative Medicine in the School of Medicine, and joint appointments in EHS/Toxicology.