PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: This application is for a five year renewal, years 46?50, of an institutional training grant in cardiovascular disease epidemiology. The aims of the training program are to develop creative and independent investigators who will contribute to our knowledge of cardiovascular disease, its pathogenesis, complications and prevention. Both the training program and trainees will evolve in response to the changing needs of the ? cardiovascular epidemiology field. The program is based in the Department of Epidemiology at the Joh?ns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and benefits from close ties with other population and clinically oriented departments at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions as well as several affiliated community based research units. The 55 trainees in the past 10 years (years 35-43) have been extremely successful; to-date, these trainees have co-authored a total of 1968 publications (1809 unique) with nearly all doing research (26 are in an academic setting and 10 are in government or industry), 16 are still in training, and 3 are not doing any research or teaching. Years to degree completion is on target (mean of 3.6 years for pre-docs and mean of 2 years for master's). Productivity is high: pre-doc and post-doc average of 31 and 41 total publications, ? respectively (medians of 25 and 30). This includes 79 first-author publications cited >50 times. In the past 5 ? years, all slots were filled including 9 (17% minority (7 African-American and 2 Latino)) trainees. Pre doctoral ? candidates will enroll in the PhD program. Post doctoral candidates without a previous degree in epidemiology will enroll in a 2 year? thesis bearing master's degree program. Trainees will partic? ipate in 1) a structured schedule of didactic course work, 2) journal club, seminar series, and a program specific research?in?progress meetings, 3) hands on analysis of an existing data set and 4) a thesis research project. A program director, a co-director, 23 core faculty (including 5 URM faculty, 8 junior participating faculty), and 27 affiliate faculty ?? members serve as potential mentors and support for the trainees. The program will maintain a focus on excellence, multi disciplinary collaboration, innovation, and life long learning.