The tobacco control community of tomorrow: a vision for training.

OBJECTIVE: Current and emerging public health challenges require a new approach to research training. The purpose of the CIHR-Strategic Training Program in Tobacco Research (STPTR) is to equip the next generation of scientific leaders with the knowledge, skills and experiences that will enhance their ability to conduct tobacco research that will have a positive impact on the health of the population.

PARTICIPANTS: Graduate students or post-doctoral fellows from any university in Canada who are working with a STPTR Mentor in the broad area of tobacco control.

SETTING: Mentors at three universities: University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, and University of Waterloo.

INTERVENTION: The STPTR currently has four elements: a video course linking STPTR trainees and mentors across universities; an annual meeting; stipend awards that free CIHR STPTR fellows to concentrate on research; and personal, cross-disciplinary research mentoring.

OUTCOMES: Feedback solicited from current and past trainees at the three-year point of the program suggests that there are four key value-added benefits associated with being a trainee in the STPTR: transdisciplinary connectedness, community building, capacity building, and exposure.

CONCLUSION: Feedback from trainees at different stages in their training experience, different academic institutions, and different academic disciplines will inform the ongoing framing of the STPTR and may inform future training programs in other disciplines of chronic disease prevention, health promotion, and the emerging science of population-level intervention.