Unliquidated Obligations: Training Program in Oxidative Stress and Nutrition

Poort dietary habits play an etiological role in 5 of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States. In spite of long-standing compelling arguments, nutrition education in medical schools remains inadequate. This is a competing renewal of a training program in the area of "Oxidative Stress and Nutrition". Progress has been excellent during the previous funding period as evidenced by student qualifications, honors and awards, and productivity. Four areas of emphasis in nutritional sciences form the basis of the training program in the competing renewal: (1) Nutrition and Cardiovascular Disease, (2) Nutrition and Cancer, (3) Nutrition and Neuroscience/Aging, and (4) Nutrition and Metabolic Disease. The training program is based in the Multidisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Nutritional Sciences, which provides teaching and research. The research facilities of training faculty in Nutritional Sciences has been markedly improved during the previous funding period through allocation of dedicated space for research and graduate training. Faculty members sharing a common interest in nutrition have joint appointments in the Nutritional Sciences Ph.D. Program with primary appointments in multiple units, including: Aging, Anatomy/Neurobiology, Agriculture, Biochemistry, Cardiology, Chemistry, Gastroenterology, Microbiology/Immunology, Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, Pharmacology, Physiology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Radiation Medicine. There are 31 productive, funded training faculty who are highly interactive in this training program. The training program for predoctoral includes 13 credit hours in nutrition-based courses, 15 credit hours in biomedically based courses, 4 credit hours in statistics, and 1 credit hour in ethics in research. Students participate in laboratory rotations guided by the Director of Graduate Studies during the first year, and subsequently are advised by a major professor and a 4 member advisory committee. Four Pre-doctoral students will be selected (after passing the qualifying examination) in the 4 broad areas of nutritional importance.