The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute (MCHDI) currently has multiple trainees including post-doctoral, MD/PhD, PhD, and MD candidates, and others who work under our faculty. Our Institute and Principal Investigators are strongly invested in your future. The Institute offers a number of events and resources, providing a platform where you may connect with other trainees. Please visit this page often to make sure you are always apprised of the latest updates.
Trainee Resources and Programs
We offer the resources and support to nurture your growth and development as a pre- or post-doctoral researcher or student.
MCHDI Trainee Pilot Grant Program
The MCHDI pilot grants will support up to two new trainee pilot projects for one year in the amount of $10,000. These grants are intended to support innovative basic, clinical, or translational research for postdoctoral fellows or PhD/MD-PhD students currently training under the direction of MCHDI members. The purpose of the program is to support early career scientists in pursuing an independently funded research project that is separate from their ongoing projects under their current Principal Investigator/mentor. Successful applications are required to:
a) demonstrate that they can achieve independence and will generate preliminary data that could lead to career development or other grants and b) be relevant to children’s health.
The 2023 deadlines are outlined below:
Declaration of intent due |
April 2023 |
Applications due |
May 2023 |
Notification of finalists |
May-June 2023 |
Finalists present |
June 2023 |
Notification of awards |
June 2023 |
Project period |
July 15, 2023 - July 15, 2024 |
Young Investigators Competition
This yearly competition is held in conjunction with our MCHDI annual retreat during the fall semester. It is open to pre-doctoral trainees (graduate/medical), post-doctoral trainees (post-docs, senior research associates, etc.) and students. To apply, you must submit a 250-word abstract, and we choose three finalists for each of our pre-doctoral and post-doctoral divisions. Finalists must give a 15-minute presentation at the retreat, and we select one winner for each division. Winners receive an award certificate and gift prize.
Child Health Research Seminars
The Child Health Research Seminar series is co-hosted by the Department of Pediatrics and the Mindich Child Health and Development Institute. The purpose of this series is to highlight current and ongoing child health research from internal and visiting researchers as an opportunity to enrich the scientific community at Mount Sinai. The series consists of didactic seminars and practical workshops developed to appeal to researchers interested in research areas including diabetes, allergy/asthma, cardiovascular outcomes and neurodevelopmental diseases.
We also include topics applicable to all research such as approaches for consortium-based research, the use of technology and apps to engage community based participatory research, and tools for generating figures to visualize research results. The CHRS series takes place most Tuesday's at noon during the Spring and Fall semester.
Co-Chairs Shelley Liu, PhD and Rebecca Trachtman, PhD happily accommodate suggested topics and speakers for this series. Please contact them with any suggestions.
GrantForward
We use a pre-award funding database, GrantForward, which has a comprehensive list of federal, foundation, and other funding sources. It features a user-friendly search interface that allows you to filter by sponsor, grant, or applicant type. As a user, you can set up saved search results and automatic email alerts at desired frequencies. GrantForward will also generate a list of recommended grants based on your researcher profile and interests. As a member of MCHDI team, you may contact Program Manager, Elena Lum, at elena.lum@mssm.edu to create an account.
Child Health Question Submission Form
Have questions on the top 3 topics received from our Child Health Poll? Submit them here:
- Environmental toxins leading to asthma, brain development impairment, and autism in children
- Genetics/genomics of childhood diseases (eg. autism and obesity)
- Neurodevelopmental disorders (eg. seizures, mental retardation)