This training program is supported primarily by research training grant awards from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the NIH Fogarty International Center. Dr. William Latimer is the training program director. Doctoral trainees in the Drug Dependence Epidemiology Training Program should plan on a minimum of four years in the doctoral program, and the program may require five years. The program typically will begin in June or July, prior to the start of coursework in Term 1 of the new academic year. Students without prior background in the biomedical sciences should enroll in the two-week August course on Introduction to Biomedical Sciences. During their first year, trainees in the DDET program must complete the departmental coursework requirements and, in addition, must enroll in the first-term course Alcohol, Tobacco, Other Drugs, and Public Health. They also have research-work-group and research-apprenticeship assignments to complete. A target goal is submission of an abstract each January of the academic appointment, based on work completed before that time, which will allow them to make a poster presentation at the College on Problems of Drug Dependence meeting in June of each year, followed by completion of a peer-reviewed scientific manuscript based on the project. Efforts will be made to support the trainee's travel to this meeting each year, provided an abstract has been submitted and accepted for presentation. The director of the training program outlines the research-work-group and research-apprenticeship assignments with each trainee. These include weekly work-group meetings, as well as September, January and April afternoon meetings of the trainees in a selection of NIH-supported programs each year. After required coursework, trainees are expected to complete original research with a field research component. Under exceptional circumstances, trainees will be allowed to complete their thesis research by analyzing already gathered data, but these trainees must make a special petition to the training program faculty and must demonstrate their prior work experience and competencies in field research operations. In most instances, this requirement for field research as part of the doctoral degree program will not be waived. If there are questions, current and potential DDET trainees should consult with the advisor and training program director about these requirements. The training program director and advisors may change the program requirements from time to time, and the learning experiences of trainees will be changed to adapt to these circumstances.
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