T32 Training Grant

Applicants to the Ph.D. program have the opportunity to apply for a unique funding opportunity: the training program on Innovations in Promoting Health through Team Science (CHEeTAh).

Training program on Complexity: Innovations in promoting health through team science

You are invited to apply to become a fellow for the Complexity: Innovations in Promoting Health through Team Science (CHEeTAh) training program for Ph.D. students, funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (T32).

To qualify for this prestigious training program, applicants must be:

  1. U.S. citizens, a noncitizen national of the U.S., or have been lawfully admitted as a permanent resident in the U.S.
  2. Applying for Fall 2024 admission to the Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan School of Nursing.

The goal of the training program is to educate PhD students to become innovative and successful scientists who will leverage team science approaches to promote health for individuals with or at risk for complex chronic conditions.

Applicants selected for the CHEeTah training program will receive four years of funding in the form of tuition support, health insurance, and a monthly stipend.

The CHEeTah training program is designed to prepare students to:

  • Investigate the complex array of personal, social, and environmental factors that influence the health of individuals and populations at risk for or diagnosed with chronic illness to inform the design and testing of interventions.
  • Integrate team science approaches when developing and testing innovative interventions to address highly complex problems.
  • Design and test innovative approaches to promote health which prevent the development of chronic conditions at the individual and population levels in those at higher risk.
  • Design and test innovative approaches to promote health among those with chronic conditions to enable them to live well with chronic illness.

Focus areas

The focus of the CHEeTAh training program is using team science approaches to identify, develop, and test strategies to prevent or delay the development of complex chronic conditions and promote healthy behaviors in the presence of chronic illness and functional decline.

Prevent or delay the development of complex chronic conditions

Examples of topics include but are not limited to:

  • Women’s health such as urinary continence, reproductive health, prevention of maternal and neonatal mortality;
  • Sexual health such as HIV prevention and adolescent health;
  • Workers’ health and safety such as prevention of noise-induced hearing loss among farm operators and their families, and prevention of healthcare workers’ exposure to toxic chemotherapeutic agents in ambulatory cancer treatment settings;
  • Communication and use of technology among different types of healthcare providers (e.g. nurses, physicians) that impact patient safety, patient outcomes and potential adverse healthcare events associated with miscommunication;
  • Prevention of injury (e.g. falls) in older adults;
  • Promoting health and reducing health inequality among vulnerable and community-based populations,
  • Implementation of research-based interventions to promote health and safety (implementation science).

Promote healthy behaviors in the presence of chronic illness and funcational decline

Examples of topics include but are not limited to:

  • Investigating complex mechanisms of symptoms experienced by cancer survivors, testing bio-behavioral interventions to promote health in those with cancer, and improving sexual health in women with a history of breast and gynecologic cancer;
  • Testing interventions to address painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) and thereby improve quality of life;
  • Investigating factors that influence physical activity, and quality of life in people with chronic lung disease and testing the effects of an exercise intervention to promote health and increase physical activity in this population;
  • Testing the effectiveness of a psycho-education intervention for women with abuse-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to promote healthy pregnancies and prevent maltreatment of infants and children;
  • Improving quality of life in those with chronic illness, and
  • Applying innovative analytic methods to large nationally available data to investigate back pain.

Application procedures

Those interested in the CHEeTah training program need to submit a brief narrative under the Optional: Funding Opportunity section of the Rackham Graduate Program Application.

The narrative should describe how additional training in using team science to promote health and address complex health problems would support your research interests and career goals (200 words or less).

Questions about this funding opportunity should be directed to Dr. Marjorie McCullagh or Dr. Sarah Stoddard

Deadline

All materials must be submitted with the Rackham Graduate School application by the School of Nursing Ph.D. application deadline. Please contact the Office of Admissions and Records at [email protected] or 734-763-5985 if you have questions.