The mission of the Career Development Program (CDP) is to provide career training for the new generation of environmental health (EH) scientists, to nurture young faculty and foster their transition to independence, and to attract established scientists and integrate their disciplines into the area of EHS.
The philosophy of the CDP is that career training is a continuum starting with postdoctoral training (PhD/MD) and proceeding through subsequent development as junior faculty, and the transition of mid-career faculty to senior leadership. Specific emphasis is placed on the training of clinician-scientists who might not otherwise identify their interests in EHS. Women and underrepresented minorities are highly sought as members. Established investigators are also attracted to the field by the appeal of the multidisciplinary paradigm championed by the CDP.
The CDP fosters translational and clinical careers in EHS by involving an interactive group of scientists from UA Colleges, Departments, and Centers of Excellence that are interested in exploring the role of environmental disease pathogenesis, prevention, and intervention. The exposure of junior investigators to a multidisciplinary culture, close mentoring by basic and clinical scientists, and access to state-of-the-art technologies ensures the emergence of a new generation of skilled investigators and provides them with a competitive edge that fosters their career progression.