# UAB Cardiovascular Disease Predoctoral Training Program in Biostatistics and Epidemiology

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2023 · $188,966

## Abstract

The increasing availability of “big data” has transformed the training required to advance our understanding of
the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the identification of patient-level and public health
approaches to prevent its occurrence and aspects of quality of care for patients with CVD and its risk factors.
The goal of the proposed pre-doctoral National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute T32 CVD training grant is to
engage and empower biostatistics and epidemiology students with a strong foundation in both disciplines so
they will be positioned to lead the design, conduct and analysis of the big data that are being collected in the
21st century. Located in the Southeastern US, an area with the highest heart disease death rates, the
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has been at the forefront of CVD biostatistics and epidemiology
research for over 25 years. The Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology are internationally recognized
for leading randomized trial coordinating centers, serving as the coordinating center and field sites for
epidemiology studies, conducting analyses of health insurance claims and electronic medical record data, and
developing new methods for statistical genetics/genomics. For this T32 program, we are requesting funding for
a total of 12 pre-doctoral trainees over the course of 5 years including 2 new trainees in each of years 1
through 3 and 3 new trainees in each of years 4 and 5. Trainees enrolled in the T32 program will receive a
strong foundation in the pathophysiology and epidemiology of CVD, skills to design and conduct observational
research, training on rigor and reproducibility in CVD research, familiarity with how real-world data are
collected and analyzed, experience conducting big data analytics including omics data, grant writing
experience, and networking opportunities within UAB and the larger scientific community of CVD researchers.
Pre-doctoral trainees will complete activities that provide added value to their doctoral programs in biostatistics
and epidemiology including didactic cross-training courses, a grant writing class and workshop, research
immersions in three areas of big data, professional development workshops, and CVD seminars and a journal
club. We have designed three workshops for this T32 grant including an 8-week summer training program on
CVD, a high performance computing boot camp and a workshop on team science and communication. The
training program’s capstone experience is a mentored research project resulting in a peer-reviewed
manuscript. The program will be led by Drs. Hemant Tiwari and Paul Muntner, full professors in Biostatistics
and Epidemiology, respectively, with strong mentoring records and program development experience. We
have received the commitment from 14 primary mentors and 11 secondary mentors from the Departments of
Biostatistics and Epidemiology. An additional 21 faculty members from across UAB have committed to serve
as content men...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10531226
- **Project number:** 5T32HL155007-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** Marguerite R Irvin
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $188,966
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-12-01 → 2025-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10531226

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10531226, UAB Cardiovascular Disease Predoctoral Training Program in Biostatistics and Epidemiology (5T32HL155007-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10531226. Licensed CC0.

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