Advanced training in environmental health and data science: molecules to populations

Columbia University Health Sciences, New York NY

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Abstract

Advanced training in environmental health and data sciences: molecules to populations. The Columbia NIEHS T32 has been training the next generation of environmental health science leaders for more than two decades. During the recent funding cycle, we successfully merged three existing NIEHS T32 training programs at Columbia into an innovative and integrated training program that addresses critical future transdisciplinary needs in the field of environmental health sciences. The continued success and growth of our program is testament to the outstanding intellectual setting for environmental health sciences at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health (MSPH). We have more active NIEHS-funded projects and investigators than any other institution, providing a rich intellectual and economic basis for our large training program. The University is home to the Data Science Institute (DSI), the Lamont Doherty Laboratory, and several other units which are key partners for the training program. Together these components, as well as the University as a whole, provide world-class expertise and training opportunities across the fields of environmental health including exposomics and data science. In the second cycle of the combined T32, our overarching objective is to provide highly innovative and transdisciplinary training in environmental health sciences that takes a life course approach to study mechanisms of disease, environmental epidemiology and interventions, and extreme weather and health. This training will be enhanced by cross-cutting emphasis in exposomics, health over the life course, and data science. For our predoctoral training program, we request 18 trainee slots to fund matriculation of 9 trainees per year, who will each receive two years of support. Students will be distributed among three disciplinary tracks—Mechanisms of Disease, Environmental Epidemiology and Interventions, or Extreme Weather and Health—and will collaborate during coursework and our integrative educational activities. For our postdoctoral training program, we request 8 postdoctoral slots to support matriculation of 4 scholars per year, each with two years of support. The training program combines rigorous primary research with advanced training in data science and leadership training in interdisciplinary team science. Our trainees will 1) develop core skills in environmental health sciences, 2) gain foundational knowledge in cross-cutting research skills, 3) conduct high-impact research and 4) learn and apply transdisciplinary research skills to advance team and collaborative science. With this program, we will prepare our trainees to be leaders in environmental health sciences, positioning them for rich careers that significantly impact the nation's health-related research needs.