Mentoring and Education Core
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Core
Leader
Dr. Woolverton serves as the Scientific Director and as the
Mentoring and Education Core leader of the Center for Psychiatric
Neuroscience (CPN). Dr. Woolverton completed his graduate training
in the behavioral pharmacology of drugs of abuse in 1977, at the
University of Chicago. His
research has been funded by the National
Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) since receiving his
post-doctoral National Research Service Award
in 1978, and he is currently funded by R01s and a K05 award from
NIDA. Dr. Woolverton served as the Scientific Director and
Co-Principal Investigator of the Drug Abuse Research Center at the
University of Chicago from 1986 until 1993. He has served as
mentor for 17 pre- and post-doctoral trainees. He is a tenured
Professor and past Director of the Division of Neurobiology and
Behavior Research (1995-1999). He has a secondary appointment in
the Department of Pharmacology and
Toxicology. He has served as a regular member of two NIDA Study
Sections (Drug Abuse Biomedical Review and Basic Behavioral Science
Research Review) and is a frequent ad hoc reviewer for NIDA. He is
currently a member of the Integrative, Functional, and Cognitive
Neuroscience-1 Study Section at Center for Scientific Review,
NIH.
Core
Goals
The Mentoring and Education Core of the Center for Psychiatric
Neuroscience (CPN) creates an academic environment that fosters the
establishment of independent research programs of junior faculty
investigators (Project Principal Investigators). This is
accomplished through several different mechanisms:
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Each CPN Project
Principal Investigator is paired with both a basic science mentor
and a clinical mentor, providing CPN Project PIs with scientific
and career advice, as well as training in grants management, from
senior faculty who are established researchers in closely related
fields of study.
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Holds monthly scientific
meetings to review the scientific progress of the individual
CPN-funded projects. These monthly scientific meetings also provide
internal collaboration through which the CPN Project PIs benefit
from the collective input of all senior faculty mentors.
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Coordinates training in
the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)
through a lecture series funded by the CPN.
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Sponsors a Distinguished Speakers Seminar
Series with lectures by visiting scientists to further
enhance the academic environment of CPN Project PIs.
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Provides training in
proposal preparation through funding of attendance for CPN Project
PIs to NIH-sponsored workshops, mock proposal submission and review
sessions including an NIH study section-like review of the
proposal, and regular meetings with mentors.
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Requires mandatory
training in other research activities including the use of animals
in research, the protection of human research subjects, the
handling and disposal of radioactivity, and the handling of
recombinant DNA and other microbiological biohazards.
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Sponsors a summer
internship for undergraduate students to foster an interest in
psychiatric neuroscience at the undergraduate level (Neuroscience
Scholars Summer Program). |
