ANN ARBOR—Stephanie Borchardt’s long-term goal is to work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Richard Bauer’s next stop is law school, and then he hopes to do patent law for a pharmaceutical company. Shona Dalal sees herself conducting applied research for an international organization. They are among seven graduate students and two post-docs preparing for a wide range of careers as part of the Interdisciplinary Training Program in Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. The program blends modeling techniques and theory with practical experience in the laboratory and field. Students work with two mentors, one in the laboratory sciences such as microbiology or molecular biology and another in either mathematical modeling or epidemiology field methods. In practical terms, that means getting students involved in projects that help them understand the science, the behavior and the data that explain how diseases work. "There’s only so much you can learn from coursework. This is hands on," Bauer said. The hands-on learning is valuable, as is the cross-pollinization of exposing students to mathematical models, lab work, field experiences and a behavioral understanding of disease, said Betsy Foxman, director of the program and professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health. "It supplies the students with the necessary vocabulary to speak the language of a full range of sciences," she said. The program also builds links among faculty members who might not otherwise have collaborated. For example, Foxman said students and faculty members bandied about suggestions from their particular disciplines—genomics, biology and epidemiology, among others—about how to better understand organisms that cause illness when they get into the middle ear. They melded those various approaches into a grant application and won funding for a new way to identify genes that help bacteria cause middle ear infections. Applications for students who want to participate next year are due March 31. Students selected to participate receive full tuition and a stipend for up to three years, plus travel funds to attend science meetings. The program is funded in part by a five-year, $616,000 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. Related Links:

Interdisciplinary Training Program in Infectious Diseases

Betsy Foxman’s faculty profile

U-M School of Public Health

U-M School of Public Health