Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences NIMH funded T32 Mental Health, Earlier Postdoctoral Fellowship

Core Competencies Include:

1. Expertise in neurodevelopmental mechanisms of psychopathology in a lifespan and environmental context.
2. Computational psychiatry and other data science applications to mental health.
3. Intersection of mental health and pediatric physical conditions
4. Intervention/prevention/implementation science.
5. Translational team science skills including responsible conduct of research, grantsmanship and professional development skills .

The NU-MHE T32’s Formal Didactics will take the shape of:

1. A core seminar entitled Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms of Psychopathology in Context and Application, a two-year NIMH Research Domain Criteria ( RDoC-)oriented seminar designed to highlight approaches to studying neurodevelopmental mechanisms of psychopathology across different domains and constructs, such as: Negative Valence, Positive Valence, Cognitive, Social, Arousal & Regulation, and, Sensorimotor.
2. Orientation Kick-off Series for each domain of training. 
3. Data science seminar in computational psychiatry
4. Training Center with a transdisciplinary developmental sciences graduate cluster
5. Support to submit an NIH grant (e.g., an F32, K99/R00, or K-award) by the first quarter of the second year
6. Opportunity to participate in Ready, Set, Go! An 8-week Summer Workshop sponsored by the Graduate School designed to improve oral presentation skills by
   1. Enhancing confidence in public speaking through provisions and theater skills
   2. Improving the clarity of one’s message, and
   3. Forming a meaningful connection with one’s audience

Personalized Individual Career Advancement Plans (ICAP) gets built through:

1. Input from the fellow
2. Commentary and input from the mentoring team: (1) a co-mentor with expertise in the neurodevelopmental and/or environmental mechanisms of psychopathology; and (2) a co-mentor with expertise in at least one of the intersecting thematic areas

Fellows may choose any of the below offerings to help support or enhance their ICAP Plan:

1. NU Clinical and Translational Science Institute helps with research design and implementation resources (NUCATS)
2. Full access to the 155+ Affiliates available through the Institute for Innovation in DevSci
3. The opportunity to interact with researchers at other Chicago institutions such as the University of Illinois- Chicago, the University of Chicago, and Rush University – all of whom have active T32 training programs
4. Housed in the Institute for Innovation in Developmental Science includes access to the resources of their Neurodevelopmental Core, which provides training boot camps in neurodevelopmental assessment and imaging, a Data Science Hub, which supports application of computational methods to neurodevelopmental research.

Example ICAP

Additional Clinical Experiences*

1. Trainees can learn the foundations of clinical interviewing skills with youth and families.
2. Trainees can also receive training in the administration of standardized assessments across developmental periods.

Trainees will participate in team meetings and/or community-engaged activities outside of their labs to gain a fuller appreciation of the art of team science. 

*Note: Many trainees will have had this experience if they received clinical training (e.g., in residency or clinical psychology PhD program) but many trainees will not (e.g., if their PhD is in cognitive neuroscience). The goal of this experience is not for trainees to necessarily become reliable clinical interviewers but rather to be exposed to the process of clinical interviewing in order to see first-hand how youth and families report on their experiences and the heterogeneity across individuals with putatively similar clinical presentations.

Fellows will also have access to:

1. Peer-mentorship and Informal Socialization
   1. Trainees will meet with MPI Wakschlag and Shankman quarterly
   2. There will be quarterly “trainees-only lunches”, where trainees will be encouraged to engage in peer-to-peer mentorship, regular “happy hours” and dinners with trainees and co-mentors outside of work hours.