Overview
The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) offers the Mary Frances Picciano Dietary Supplement Research Practicum, 2.5-day educational opportunity to provide fundamental knowledge of dietary supplements to faculty, students, and practitioners with a serious interest in this subject. This intensive practicum provides a thorough overview and grounding about issues, concepts, unknowns, and controversies about dietary supplements and supplement ingredients. It also emphasizes the importance of scientific investigations to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and value of these products for health promotion and disease prevention as well as how to carry out this type of research.
The faculty consists of experts from NIH, academic institutions, federal regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and practicing stakeholders. Participants also hear from various stakeholders—the dietary supplement industry, consumer advocacy groups, and media—who study, advocate, regulate, or educate about dietary supplements.
The practicum is open to selected faculty, graduate students, and research practitioners in health-related disciplines such as nutrition, food science, pharmacy, pharmacology and pharmacognosy, exercise science and kinesiology, medicine, dentistry, nursing, and complementary and alternative medicine. Primary candidates are full-time academic faculty, research practitioners, doctoral students, postdocs, and fellows. Applications will also be accepted from health care providers and scientists with a master's degree or higher whose work involves research with dietary supplements, masters-level students, and students in allied health schools. There is no cost to attend the practicum itself. However, room, board, and transportation expenses are the responsibility of each participant.
2019 Practicum Information
The 2019 Practicum is scheduled for May 29-31, 2019. Sign up for the ODS Listserv to be notified when the application process opens. Information about the 2018 Practicum
including agenda and speakers is available at odspracticum.od.nih.gov/.