Requirements

NIH-based training grants are becoming increasingly competitive, and thus it is critical that students appointed to them make a long-term commitment to carrying out research in the relevant subject area. All training grants have requirements which must be fulfilled to justify the financial support of the student (tuition, fees, and stipend).

For the HIV/AIDS training grant, these include the following:

Cognate: Trainees must complete their cognate in an area related to HIV/AIDS, or infectious diseases more broadly. Highly recommended courses are EPI 255 & EPI 256 (Epidemiology of HIV), IID 207 (Infectious Disease Outbreaks of the 20th and 21^st Centuries) and GHP 539 (Control of Infectious Diseases in Low/Middle Income Countries). The specific courses and theme should be developed by the student along with their advisor and the Training Grant Director; all cognates must be approved as part of the final program by the Director of Graduate Studies. Some examples of cognates completed by past funded students include Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Global HIV Research, and Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Coursework: There are no specific courses required for this training grant other than the cognates described above and completion of training/coursework in Reproducible Data Science (BST 270) and Responsible Conduct of Research (HPM 548). However, trainees should complete coursework that supports their biostatistical research in HIV-related applications, which may include courses in clinical trials, HIV epidemiology, infectious disease transmission, microbiology or virology.

First Year Research Project: During the spring and summer of their first year in the PhD program, trainees undertake a research project that has clear ties to HIV research. Projects may be methodological in nature, but should then include application to an HIV/AIDS problem and dataset. All proposals for these research projects should be discussed with and must be approved by the Training Grant Director. The Training Grant Director may be able to help students identify appropriate research projects.

Consulting/Collaboration Requirement: The consulting/collaboration requirement should involve a collaborative research project that has clear ties to HIV research. All proposals for these research projects should be discussed with and must be approved by the Training Grant Director. The Training Grant Director may be able to help students identify appropriate research projects.

Seminars/Working Groups: Trainees must attend the HIV Working Group meeting, which typically convenes every two weeks during the academic year. Trainees doing dissertation research should present on their research at the Working Group at least once each year. Each year, two trainees are asked to organize the HIV Working Group seminar series. Trainees must also attend at least four Center for Biostatistics in AIDS Research (CBAR) Study Design and Analysis Seminars each year (and are encouraged to attend more); these provide an opportunity to participate in discussion of the designs of developing HIV research clinical trials and other studies). In addition, students should attend departmental colloquiums; and are strongly recommended to attend seminars of the Harvard Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and Harvard Catalyst relevant to their research.

Dissertation: Trainees should have dissertation topics which are either directly related to biostatistical methodology in HIV research, or which include applications to HIV/AIDS datasets. A member of the HIV/AIDS Training Grant faculty should generally be included on a student’s oral exam and thesis committees. Proposals for incorporating HIV-related applications and a plan for establishing reproducibility of research in student dissertation work should be included as part of the oral qualifying exam. Even if students are no longer funded on this grant during the period of their dissertation research, it is expected that support over the first 2-3 years in the PhD program will be acknowledged by focusing on an HIV-related application in biostatistics. Trainees should present their research at professional conferences. Manuscripts submitted for publication should acknowledge the training grant.

Progress Report: Trainees will be asked to provide an annual progress report including details on how their training relates to HIV (and other infectious diseases), to be included in annual NIH progress reports for the training grant.