About
Northwestern University’s NIMH Mental Health, Earlier Postdoctoral Fellowship (MHE T32), housed under the Institute of Developmental Science (DevSci) and funded through the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), provides training through a novel transdisciplinary approach designed to launch the next generation of neurodevelopmentally-oriented mental health researchers poised to accelerate the pace of clinical translation. NU-MHE T32 is specifically designed to bring together trainees and mentors from varies disciplinary backgrounds (including both PhD and MD scholars) as a paradigm for advancing cutting-edge translational mental health research.
NU-MHE T32 trains fellows to investigate neurodevelopmental mechanisms of psychopathology through a developmentally and environmentally informed lens, emphasizing how vulnerability, sensitive periods, and contextual experiences shape clinical trajectories. Building on this foundation, the program cultivates a translational mindset through structured training in prevention/intervention science, community-engaged research, and implementation science. As highlighted in the Figure, fellows learn to keep real-world feasibility, stakeholder perspectives, and pragmatic design considerations at the forefront - even when conducting early-stage mechanistic work - ensuring that discovery science remains tightly connected to clinical and community needs.
All Fellows are supported by a dedicated mentoring team consisting of:
(1) a co-mentor with expertise in neurodevelopmental mechanisms of psychopathology, and
(2) a co-mentor specializing in community-based prevention, intervention, and/or implementation.
This integrated model equips trainees to generate mechanistic insights that meaningfully inform assessment, prevention, and intervention strategies across diverse clinical and community settings, preparing them to lead the next generation of translational mental health research. NU-MHE T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship is the first at Northwestern and Nationally to focus on training in neurodevelopmental clinical science and integrate the three thematic spheres.
The Fellowship Training will be structured to emphasize a unique set of developed Core Competencies through both shared NU-MHE T32 Training experiences (i.e. – Bootcamps, Seminars, etc.) and Individual Career Advancement Plans (ICAP), created with each mentoring team, to develop fellows an independent lead researcher of the future.