# Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Dynamics PhD Program

> **NIH NIH T32** · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · 2021 · $86,400

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Dynamics (MCD2) is a NIGMS-supported training program at Harvard
Medical School (HMS) devoted to the deep mechanistic investigation of fundamental biological phenomena. Our
primary objective is to prepare a talented and diverse group students for robust and independent careers in
rigorous scientific discovery. However, the future success of our trainees and their long-term professional impact
will rely on the various mentoring relationships, role models, and peer networks that support them during and
after their training here. The quality of mentorship not only propels our students’ careers, but also strengthens
the national culture of STEM training. HMS and the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) are
actively collaborating to train our faculty preceptors to better meet the mentoring needs of our graduate trainees.
By September 2021, over 50% of the preceptors on this grant will have participated in our mentorship program,
based on the CIMER “Entering Mentoring” curriculum and other resources (e.g. NRMN); and the remaining
faculty should have participated by the end of the current funding cycle in 2022. Thus, we anticipate a time when
our thesis advisors have been introduced to new evidence-based benchmarks in mentorship and supporting
diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging within our research community. We propose to expand upon these
efforts in two ways. First, we propose to refine and disseminate curricula and pedagogical tools that faculty can
employ to mentor trainees through the acquisition of peer mentoring skills, given the capacity of trainees to
amplify faculty efforts to cultivate a positive culture of mentorship in their labs and communities. The past year
and pandemic highlight the need of our trainees for more extensive networks of mentoring support. Second,
we propose to develop, expand and promote a soon-to-be-launched open access online platform Career
CogCity, which will connect faculty to the myriad resources continuously being developed to support graduate
student professional development – building on our momentum to better prepare them for mentorship roles by
providing resources for them to deepen conversations around individual development planning, skills acquisition,
career exploration and professional development. Integral to these new training resources, we will also collect
data on the impact of faculty and peer mentoring. All these efforts simultaneously serve as training resources for
the administrators who manage our graduate programs, and importantly deliver a transgenerational benefit of
better equipping our graduate trainees to serve as mentors and teachers during graduate school and to translate
this benefit as the next generation of mentors and leaders in their professional lives.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10393720
- **Project number:** 3T32GM007226-46S1
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
- **Principal Investigator:** David L. Van Vactor
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $86,400
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1975-07-01 → 2022-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10393720

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10393720, Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Dynamics PhD Program (3T32GM007226-46S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-02 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10393720. Licensed CC0.

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