# Educating Physician Scientists in Psychiatry (EPSP): Firing up the next generation of translational and clinical neuroscientists

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2021 · $215,865

## Abstract

Project Abstract
Educating Physician Scientists in Psychiatry (EPSP) aims to establish a residency research
training track. Our goal is to recruit medical graduates with significant research experience into
careers in basic, translational or clinical neuroscience research by capitalizing on Penn’s rich
neuroscience environment. EPSP will be guided by three principles: the centrality of mentorship
to research success, the critical need to recruit the best trainees with attention to diversity, and
the importance of training that is both rigorous and ethical. The program provides increasing
protected research time during residency training starting with 10% time in year 1, culminating in
70% in the 4th and last year, while meeting ACGME requirements. Simultaneously, EPSP
provides increasing time for “formal” research education, comprised of both required courses
and multiple optional classes, seminars, workshops, and journal clubs. This structure permits
each trainee a personalized experience. Finally, in the last two years, trainees will have the
opportunity to obtain pilot funding, providing the ultimate hands-on experience: from research
design to data collection, and to analysis and preparation for publication or presentation.
Together, this training environment will accelerate the transition to careers as independent
physician scientist psychiatrists. Importantly, EPSP’s emphasis on the primacy of mentoring in
the success of young physician scientists means that the PIs and Program Director will have
significant mentoring time with the trainees to closely monitor progress and track the mentor-
mentee relationship. Having garnered extra research experience under attentive mentoring,
trainees will be prepared to tackle the complex scientific challenges facing psychiatry.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10094259
- **Project number:** 5R25MH119043-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Mariella De Biasi
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $215,865
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-10 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10094259

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10094259, Educating Physician Scientists in Psychiatry (EPSP): Firing up the next generation of translational and clinical neuroscientists (5R25MH119043-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10094259. Licensed CC0.

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