NIEHS Training Program in Environmental Health Sciences

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 program provides support for predoctoral 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 the role of environmental agents in the following diseases:

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

Faculty and trainee research address one or more of the following areas:

• 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 predoctoral and 24 postdoctoral trainees since 1996. Forty-three predoctoral and 20 postdoctoral trainees now hold career positions in the private sector/industry, government or academia. Current and former trainees have published over 300 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters.

HOW TO APPLY

Individuals interested in joining the training program must first be accepted into a doctoral program in the department 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 the training program by their mentor.  A trainee must be a citizen of the United States or must have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (i.e., in possession of a currently valid Alien Registration Receipt Card I-551, or some other legal verification of such status). Individuals on temporary, work, or student visas are not eligible.  Applications to the doctoral and postdoctoral programs in these departments can be found at www.jhsph.edu/resources/prospective_students/ and at Admissions.  

For more information on this training program, contact Valeria Culotta at  vculotta@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.