The purpose of this proposed renewal is to continue training postdoctoral (MD, MD/PhD, and PhD) fellows for careers as independent researchers. Since its inception in 1978, the program described in this application has successfully prepared individuals for careers in Mood and Anxiety Disorder research, evolving over the course of nearly half a century to continue training investigators who will have a significant impact in their fields. The success of our program is measured by how many fellows continue in a research-intensive trajectory whether supported by a K award, other sources of funding, or other positions that advance the research enterprise. The program itself is an intensive three-year program where fellows learn to identify key research questions, formulate hypotheses, and design and execute experiments that test those hypotheses. Other skills required for a fellow to become an independent researcher include understanding the administration of a successful research enterprise, effective collaboration and writing grants. Comprehensive training in the Responsible Conduct of Research begins early in the fellowship. Our fellows our taught to maintain the highest standards of scientific integrity and understand the ethical issues relevant to human and animal research. In this renewal application we are seeking five years of funding for 6 fellows per year. Fellows are carefully selected for particular interest in clinically relevant research interests and screened by our committee for their potential to benefit from our program and succeed as independent investigators. Admitted fellows are paired with a primary mentor in one of several areas of focus. These include amongst others, mouse models of neural circuit function and dysfunction relevant to mood and anxiety, functional neuroimaging, theoretical approaches for understanding circuit function and dysfunction that is relevant to cognition, emotion and psychiatric illness, and neurodevelopmental perspectives on the abovementioned areas. The fellows are exposed to a training program that provides ‘wrap around’ mentoring, support and didactics well beyond what is usually encountered in a post-doctoral position. This includes ‘meta’ mentorship from the program and training directors who help trainees to become more effective mentees and who work with mentors to ensure that they are meeting their trainees needs. The program provides didactics in research design, statistics, responsible conduct of research and grant writing to all fellows, with additional coursework tailored to individual fellows needs. Through a bi- annual review with the fellows or their independent development plans, the directors ensure that trainees are on track to meet their goals in submitting scientific papers for publication and in generating data for future grant submissions. New directions include the expansion of the fellow seminar program to include presentations by fellows in all three years, providing an opportun...