This training program is designed to foster the development of environmental health research strategies, building on existing strengths of the Chinese environmental health community, that address the most profound environmental health issues -- strategies that are best suited to regional and national needs. It is tailored to provide real-world experiences of immediate and direct benefit to the collaborating in-country agencies, is concentrated on pragmatic approaches to environmental health issues, and is designed to be completed within a 6 month period. It has been structured to ensure that each trainee reassumes his/her position in the home agency upon completion of the training program.

The SCDC-California DPH training collaborative will be organized around a unique set of objectives:

1. The training is targeted at qualified, mid-career public health practitioners who are working within the Shanghai CDC, Ministry of Health (MOH) or other governmental public health agency. Only candidates that meet rigorous standards, including educational, experience, and language criteria, will be considered for the training position. These candidates are expected to be sufficiently skilled and experienced to be given meaningful assignments after only a modest investment in basic training.

2. Each trainee's program will concentrate on actual agency-level environmental epidemiology research within a wide range of on-going interdisciplinary projects. The epidemiology training program consists of a core sequence of on-the-job training that covers the spectrum of epidemiological study design, field data collection techniques, analytical methods, and grantsmanship required to design and implement professional epidemiological studies. For some trainees with specialized background or interest in toxicology, the program will focus on training to apply specific laboratory techniques to epidemiological studies of human populations.

3. In addition to the scientific fundamentals of epidemiology and biostatistics, trainees will learn about the issues and impediments of implementing high-profile public research programs, including ethical considerations. They will be exposed to a broad array of problems in conveying the results of the research program to the public, affected interest groups, leaders, and established organizations, and in translating those results into interventions/policy.

4. The trainees will return to China to conduct large field studies, in collaboration with U.S. counterparts. The proposed training in laboratory methods and technology will also ultimately provide a permanent linkage among the Chinese Ministry of Health (MOH), SCDC, and provincial laboratory services and collateral U.S. and California institutions and organizations.

6. Finally, the training is explicitly designed to assist collaborating agencies in conducting studies that address the most pressing environmental health risks.