These goals are advanced by fostering a successful research environment and diverse training opportunities aimed at enhancing engagement among Miami SRP trainees, non-SRP trainees, SRP faculty and research scholars and community members. The RETCC will train a robust, broad SRP workforce of diverse scientists and public health physician-scientists who are not only domain experts but also bring a more nuanced, systems-level understanding to new frontiers in the remediation of plastics and human health. The RETCC is organized around five major activities: 1) recruiting and selecting highly qualified candidates; 2) developing key RETCC competencies; 3) collaborative mentoring by Miami SPR domain experts, peers, and community mentors; 4) accelerating trainees’ transition to research career independence; and 5) provide regular core/trainee evaluation.
During the 5-year program, we will train 10 to 15 promising, diverse scholars (PhD, Postdoctoral fellows, Master and MD-MPH) and support them for two to five years to be successful and competitive for sustained environmental health careers.
South Florida, a rapidly growing technological incubator, provides an exceptionally rich and fertile setting for developing SRP trainees. The area’s 6.2 million people represent exceptional diversity in ancestry, racial/ethnic identities, and socio-cultural backgrounds with 66% of our residents being Black/Hispanic and 50% being foreign-born. This diversity combined with distinct environmental, social, and cultural contexts provides unique training opportunities for addressing complex environmental plastics exposure, pollution, and human health challenges in environmental justice and health equity. The program will be led by two Co-Directors who are researchers, educators, and public health practitioners with complementary expertise in clinical-to-population health research (Alberto Caban-Martinez) and communication, digital platforms, and pedagogical methodologies (Ali Habashi). They will work with the leaders of the Miami SRP Center (Sylvia Daunert and Michal Toborek) and other institutional research and training programs as well as the SRPs Internal and External Advisory Committees comprising distinguished leaders in environmental sciences and translational research training resources across the University.
The mission of the Miami SRP’s RETCC is to establish collaborative partnerships with SRP research projects and SRP cores to facilitate a cohesive systems approach to transdisciplinary, problem-solving research experiences and training. Our aim is to prepare SRP trainees to adeptly tackle intricate environmental pollution challenges raised by plastic exposed communities and the hazardous impact of plastic pollution and phthalates on human health. In pursuit of the overarching mission and training goals, the RETCC has formulated a set of specific objectives:
Objective 1: Develop core competencies and knowledge in plastic pollution and human health
Leveraging existing institutional training programs and resources, we will deliver an innovative and personalized training program complemented with an interactive, problem-driven, and discussion-based training media platform for developing core competencies, knowledge and skillset needed by future environmental health scientists. This component is designed to accommodate scholars at different stages in their mentored career development, and not overburden SRP trainees with extensive didactic activities that would compete for time to conduct SRP research projects and complete their degree requirements. RETCC training and research experiences will culminate with SRP-trainees being awarded a Certificate in Plastic Pollution, Enabling Environmental Technologies and Human Health.
Objective 2: Evidence-informed mentoring
SRP trainees will receive mentoring from two experienced research and translational scientists. We include in the mentorship team peer mentors and community mentors. We will foster effective mentoring practices and provide evidence-based mentorship training to both SRP trainees and mentors. We will also work with SRP trainees to develop tailored Individual Development Plans and provide resources and support for their research projects.
Objective 3: Accelerated transition to research career independence
To help transition SRP trainees (PhD and postdoctoral fellows) to independent and sustained careers in environmental hazardous substance research, the program includes: 1) career advising and coaching; 2) strategies to enhance career visibility; 3) strategies to enhance the competitiveness of SRP trainees; and 4) professional development with leadership and management training.
The Miami RETCC will ultimately provide trainees with unique learning, a focus on real-world projects involving plastics, build communications skills, and increase engagement across disciplines in environmental health.