The shortage of physician-scientists across the medical sciences, and particularly within psychiatry, is well documented, as are their critical contributions to academic research. In response to this shortage, in 2012, the Duke University Department of Psychiatry (Duke Psychiatry) began to offer highly promising residents the opportunity to have protected research time (free of clinical responsibilities) during psychiatry residency. We have since graduated 5 residents who benefitted from this protected research time and have been highly successful in developing research careers-obtaining academic appointments and continuing to engage in research, receiving independent funding, and publishing their work. Building on the success of this small “pilot” approach, we now aim to launch the Duke Psychiatry Physician Scientist Track Program (Duke-PPST) to train world-class psychiatrist-scientists by providing coordinated and sustained mentoring and research experiences with notable innovations and increased training capacity. With 10 PPST training slots, the Duke- PPST will capitalize on the extensive expertise and research training infrastructure available through Duke University and the Duke University School of Medicine. A key feature of the proposed Duke-PPST is early and intensive engagement in research for PPST residents. For a typical 4-year residency, our PPST program will offer 3 months of full-time research during each of the PGY-1 and PGY-2, while still ensuring that all ACGME requirements are met and on time for graduation. The remaining 10-12 months of full-time research will span PGY-3 and PGY-4. The Duke-PPST also will provide the opportunity for research training in child psychiatry, an area where the shortage of physician scientists is particularly acute and an area of considerable strength at Duke. We will partner with the Neuroscience R25 program (R25MH129791) at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), one of the largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the US. Through shared Duke-NCCU programming and faculty engagement, we will create a community of investigators committed to diversity in the mental health sciences. In addition, the Duke-PPST program will add needed geographic diversity to NIMH R25- supported research psychiatry residency programs. Currently, only two such programs are located in the South, despite this region being home to nearly 40% of the US population. Duke Psychiatry is strongly committed to training psychiatrists-scientists and to the success of the Duke-PPST. To build and sustain the Duke-PPST, the Department will support or augment several aspects of the program including seed funds, salaried post-graduate positions, financial support for PPST Residents, travel/conference expenses, and grant writing and biostatistical support. In total, we estimate departmental support at over $350,000 per year. The overarching goal of the Duke- PPST is to train the next generation of psychiatrist-scientists, i...