DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Chicago requests continued AHRQ/NRSA support for The Health Services Research Training Program and expansion to include post-doctoral training. Five pre-doctoral PhD, one pre-doctoral MD-PhD student, and six post-doctoral physician-trainees will be selected each year for a two- to three-year training program. The program in research training will enable fellows to engage in high quality academic research, and to provide leadership in the field of health services research. The University's program builds on the fundamental methods of the social and statistical sciences that underlie traditional health services research, and encourages trainees to use the tools from the disciplines to develop new insights into the health services field. Training includes coursework covering health care structures and institutions, as well as key methods for health services research: research design, survey and evaluation methods, and other statistical, econometric, sociological methods. Trainees participate in a workshop series on health services research. Because the core of research and career development lies in the student-mentor relationship, all trainees will work closely with a member of the participating faculty on the identification, development, and completion of a PhD thesis or of a publishable research project on a subject strongly related to health services. The faculty members participating in The Health Services Research Training Program are drawn from throughout the University, including the Departments of Anthropology, Economics, and Sociology in the Social Sciences Division, the Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, the School of Social Service Administration, and the clinical departments of the Biological Sciences Division. Criteria for admission include outstanding intellectual ability, promise in scholarly activity, and a commitment to an academic career in health services research, health economics, health policy, medical sociology or anthropology. Individuals completing the program will have the background and training to undertake academic careers applying their chosen discipline or clinical specialty to health services research.