This is a 5-year renewal application to support 5 postdoctoral trainees for a broad Training Program in Academic Endocrinology. This program has been in place at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School since 1985 and has been highly successful in training physician-scientists and basic scientists, many of whom remain in academic endocrinology. In the last 15-year period, 80% of the 30 trainees who have completed their training remain in a research career. The faculty combines both physician-scientists of the Endocrinology Division with those basic scientists of the Harvard Medical School faculty whose research is significantly related to endocrinology and who have a past and current history of collaborative interactions with Program faculty members in the Endocrinology Division. These 23 faculty members have collectively trained 475 postdoctoral fellows, the great majority of whom remain in research-related careers, either in academic positions or in industry. The 5 trainees appointed each year will be individuals with MD, PhD, or MD/PhD degrees and they will undertake 3-4 years of an intensive research experience with an emphasis on translational investigation. The goal of the program is to provide structured and mentored training experiences to afford trainees with sufficient expertise to apply successfully for mentored research awards, such as K23, K08, K01 or K99 awards, or independent research grants such as R01 grants, to ultimately develop into translational endocrine investigators who will address the great needs for research into endocrine and metabolic disorders that are so prevalent and cause such great morbidity in our society. The diverse areas of research interest of the faculty span endocrine science from the molecular and cellular levels to whole animal, patient-oriented and population levels, encompassing regulation of energy expenditure, insulin signaling, mechanisms of steroid and thyroid hormone action, neuroendocrinology, the control of skeletal muscle development, differentiation, and repair, and the epidemiology of diabetes, obesity, and vitamin D deficiency disorders. There is a strong emphasis on genetics, epigenetics, and new technologies for translating science into therapeutics. Individuals in this program will be trained to translate the insights they gain to develop strategies for the treatment and prevention of common endocrinology- based public health problems, including diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis.