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BBIP trainees find success in research, early careers

July 28, 2014

The Arnold School of Public Health and the College of Arts and Sciences are part of joint initiative designed to enhance the educational and research opportunities of doctoral students at the University of South Carolina.

The highly successful Behavioral-Biomedical Interface Program (BBIP) offers an in-depth  biomedical and biological curricula for the training of behavioral scientists so that they are able to contribute meaningfully to interdisciplinary research addressing complex health problems.

A dominant theme in BBIP pertains to prevention science and developmental science, broadly construed.  For example, BBIP students work on research problems related to cancer, children’s mental health, obesity, and substance abuse. They also take courses in endocrinology, genetics, neuroscience and prevention science, and participate in laboratory rotations with faculty located in biology, medicine, public health and psychology.

One of the students in the BBIP program is doctoral student C’iana Cooper of the Arnold School, who recently was named the recipient of a prestigious dissertation research award from the UNCF Merck Science Initiative (see related article this page).

Dr. Larry Durstine, chair of the Department of Exercise Science, said Cooper embodies the BBIP program’s goals.
“The BBIP program is a multi-discipline program that crosses over the Arnold School and the College of Arts and Sciences and three departments -- Exercise Science, Epidemiology and Psychology. Students gaining academic preparation using this approach are better academically prepared for careers in research that are now requiring collaborative working relationships.”

The catalyst for BBIP was a prestigious NIH T32 research training grant, now entering its seventh year, from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The program’s co-directors are Dr. Ron Prinz and Dr. Rosemarie Booze. Contributing to the steering committee of BBIP are Arnold School faculty members Drs. Jim Carson, Larry Durstine, Lyndie Forthofer, Susan Steck and Sara Wilcox.

To date, 34 doctoral students have been admitted to BBIP. Six have graduated (with four to graduate later this year). The graduates have gone on to positions at universities, research institutes and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. BBIP students have landed NIH F31 grants and have contributed collectively to more than 90 scientific articles.

Retention has been maintained at 100 percent, and minority representation is one of the highest among the many T32 programs supported by NIGMS/NIH.

      

Exerpt - C'iana Cooper: "I am Public Health"

Arnold School student awarded prestigious UNCF Merck award.

C’iana Cooper, a doctoral student in the Arnold School’s Department of Exercise Science, is the recipient of a prestigious dissertation research award from the UNCF Merck Science Initiative.

Cooper, who attended schools in Fort Valley, Ga., earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Interested in the impact of physical activity on the functions of the brain, Cooper began searching for graduate school programs that would enable her to conduct research in her areas of interest.

“I found that the Arnold School does this type of research, and the school’s researchers are the best in nation, if not the world,” she said. “Divine intervention brought me here.”

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