Postdoctoral Training Programs
Advanced training in environmental health and data science: molecules to populations
In collaboration with the Mailman School of Public Health, this training program represents the consolidation of three NIEHS T32 training grants at Columbia University (Interdisciplinary Training in Climate and Health, Graduate and Postdoctoral Training in Environmental Health Science and Toxicology, and Training in Environmental Life Course Epidemiology) into a unified training program designed to address critical needs in the field of environmental health sciences. The Columbia Data Science Institute will provide complementary training and support for our fellows, including participation in their existing data science postdoctoral fellows program based in computer science and engineering.
Columbia Cancer Research Training Program for Resident Investigators (CAPRI)
The CAPRI Award is an internal mentored research award to support training for clinical residents from the Departments of Medicine, Pathology, Pediatrics, Radiation Oncology or Surgery interested in conducting high-impact, patient-centered cancer research. Due to a growing need for physician-scientists in cancer medicine, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has issued a new R38 training grant for resident investigators, and Columbia University was the first awardee from the NCI in 2018. This funding opportunity is for MD or MD PhD (or equivalent degrees) clinical residents at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). Participation in a 10-week summer grant-writing course, monthly Columbia Community Cancer Research Conferences for trainees, Responsible Conduct of Research course (#G4010), completion of Individual Development Plan (IDP), quarterly meetings with the CAPRI director, submission of a mid-term research progress report, a final research presentation, and yearly tracking of research progress post-graduation from CAPRI. The grant includes funding for the resident investigator for research training activities, including didactic coursework, travel to scientific conferences, and research supplies.
Genome and Epigenome Integrity in Cancer (GEIC) Training Program
This new university-wide training program, Genome and Epigenome Integrity in Cancer (GEIC), will prepare predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows for productive careers in basic and translational cancer research on the roles of genomic and epigenomic instability in cancer. The educational goal of GEIC is to serve as a premier training site nationwide for emerging researchers who will elucidate the biological processes underlying genome and epigenome instability and translate these insights into cancer treatment. Another important goal is to increase the diversity of future scientists engaged in this kind of research. To achieve these goals, GEIC identifies and recruits a diverse pool of trainees, offering them a rigorous and individualized curriculum, and providing them with research experience in the laboratories of 25 investigators at Columbia University.
Hormones: Molecular Mechanism of Action and Functions
The Hormones: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program provides support and training to highly motivated predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers in the field of endocrinology and related subjects dealing with all aspects of hormone biology at the physiological, cellular and molecular levels.
KL2 Mentored Career Development Award Program
The goal of this Institutional Career Development Core is to impart skills essential to conduct clinical and translational science in the era of interdisciplinary team science, precision medicine (PM), big data, and implementation science. The goal is to recruit individuals who conduct cutting edge and clinically relevant research regardless of the disease focus. Recruitment will focus on investigators from diverse backgrounds with research or health professional doctorates in medicine, surgery, nursing, dentistry, public health, psychiatry, arts and sciences, and engineering. The KL2 program will promote career development, translational capabilities, and collaborative and entrepreneurial skills of junior faculty from diverse disciplines who have recently finished research or health professional doctoral training.
Molecular Oncology Training Program
The Molecular Oncology Training Program at Columbia University provides training in research techniques that will form the foundation for careers in cancer medicine. Part of the Hematology/Oncology fellowship program at Columbia University, this comprehensive two-year program (T32) is comprised of didactics, workshops, small group sessions, coursework, including a possible master's degree, and individualized training within the research programs of Columbia University faculty. The trainees (MD or MD/PhD) will be chosen on the basis of past accomplishments and their potential to develop careers as productive, independent translational investigators.
Multidisciplinary Training in Translational Gastrointestinal and Liver
The program's mission is to train MD and MD/PhD trainees to become independent basic, clinical and translational researchers in gastroenterology and hepatology. The program faculty is multidisciplinary and includes mentors not only in the Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics but also in other departments, institutes and centers at Columbia University. Trainees choose to pursue research in three broad thematic areas and select a mentor in one of these areas:
- Basic gastroenterology research
- Basic liver research
- Clinical epidemiology/precision medicine
Trainees devote most of their effort to a mentored research project but also complete a rigorous program of didactic instruction, including, if they chose, the opportunity to obtain a master's degree in clinical research. In addition, strong emphasis is given to training in the responsible conduct of research and in rigor and reproducibility.
Neurology Research Education and Mentorship Program
The Neurology Research Education and Mentorship Program is run by Columbia’s Neurology Department. Each year, at least one resident in neurology, neurosurgery, or other resident interested in neuroscience, who is considered to have exceptional promise to become an independent neuroscience researcher, is selected. The focus is on a practical, mentor-directed research experience, with limited classroom time, and residents who participate in this program will be optimally situated to compete for mentored career awards (K awards) at the completion of the two-year training experience bridging residency and fellowship.
Reducing Health Disparities Through Informatics
The NINR funded Reducing Health Disparities Thorough Informatics (RHeaDI) program provides training in informatics for pre- and post-doctoral students in the Columbia School of Nursing. The program provides trainees with research support, didactic courses, networking opportunities, and financial assistance to conduct interdisciplinary research using informatics and precision medicine approaches to advance health equity and facilitate evidence-based practice in underserved populations.
TL1 Postdoctoral Fellow Program
The TL1 Training Programs are intended to provide trainees with additional research training to prepare for a research career that can contribute in some meaningful way to understanding risk of disease, improving diagnosis and prevention, and tailoring treatment based on an individual’s variation in genes, environment, and/or lifestyle.
The TL1 Postdoctoral program provides postdoctoral fellows with one to two years of support to participate in an integrated didactic and mentored training program. Postdoctoral candidates are required to dedicate full-time to research and training related to precision medicine. The Irving Institute support includes funds for stipend (stipend level is determined by the number of full years of relevant postdoctoral experience when the award is issued), travel expenses, training-related expenses such as supplies and health insurance, and tuition and fees in accordance with NIH policy. Initially awarded for one year and renewed for a second year with satisfactory progress.
Training in Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University (DBMI)
The NLM-funded Biomedical informatics Training Program at Columbia University is run by the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI), but is closely tied to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Columbia Data Science Institute, the Department of Systems Biology, and departments and schools throughout the university. The Program offers courses and research training for 1) pre-doctoral PhD trainees and 2) post-doctoral MA and PhD trainees, as well as for 3) post-doctoral non-degree trainees with previous informatics doctoral training.
Training in Translational Immunology Research
Translational immunology is research aims to convert basic laboratory discoveries into improved clinical therapies. Control of immunological processes is the goal of research in cancer, infectious disease, transplantation and autoimmunity; thus, knowledge gained in one area is relevant to the other areas of applied immunology. Our multidisciplinary training integrates knowledge from basic and clinical disciplines and teaches young scientists how to use and analyze big data obtained from high throughput platforms such as next generation sequencing, proteomics, lipidomics and metabolomics. We offer mentored research in six complementary fields of immunology: basic immunology, developmental immunology, immunity to pathogens, tumor immunology, transplantation immunology and autoimmunity. Cutting-edge research along these themes will be supported by the outstanding Department of Systems Biology at CUIMC.
Training Program in Cancer-Related Population Sciences
The Cancer Training Program in the Department of Epidemiology is home to an NCI-funded training grant, a T32 program, which is a collaboration among the School’s Departments of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health Sciences. This program supports four trainees, all postdoctoral, all engaged in cancer-related studies and research.