Professional Development Core

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ABSTRACT- PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CORE Rhode Island (RI) has substantial health and healthcare resources, but also substantial and serious healthcare problems, including high rates of overdose death, mental health problems, obesity, and significant health care disparities. Aligning RI’s substantial health and healthcare resources so that they can effectively address RI’s health and health care problems requires that critical gaps in the state’s Clinical and Translational Research (CTR) infrastructure be closed. During Phase I of Advance-CTR, the Professional Development (PD) Core focused on three specific gaps faced by researchers and their teams: insufficient research funding, limited opportunities to learn state-of-the-art skills required for CTR, and lack of access to effective and experienced mentoring. To bolster funding, the Core funded ten Mentored Research Awards (MRAs), and all ten will likely be awarded extramural funding by the end of Phase I. The Core also provided Grant Resubmission Awards (GRAs) to researchers with high-scoring, but unfunded, NIH proposals, and nearly all GRAs (5/6) secured subsequent funding. To allow investigators and their teams to build skills, the Core sponsored multi-day grant writing workshops, including one focusing specifically on Career Development Awards, and multiple other CTR-focused trainings. To increase the availability of high-quality mentoring, the Core sponsored senior faculty to become facilitators of interactive curriculum from the National Research Mentoring Network and the Center of Improved Mentoring Experiences. Subsequently 105 junior and senior faculty have completed this outstanding training. Finally, in response to awardee feedback, the Core developed and implemented a year-long, intensive training program for junior faculty writing K awards, the Advanced-K Program. We see enormous opportunity as Advance-CTR undertakes Phase II, with an enhanced emphasis on faculty from underrepresented populations and on community engagement. For Phase II, the PD Core proposes the following Specific Aims: (1) Provide funding mechanisms and enhance essential clinical and translational competencies to promote equity and competitiveness of the RI investigator community, (2) Position junior investigators to secure grant funding and achieve independence, and (3) Expand the dissemination of best practices in mentoring. Expected results of this evolution include greater emphasis on community engaged research; continued preparation of junior investigators through MRAs to attract NIH funding; expanded dissemination of training and skills to conduct CTR, including training in entrepreneurship and community engagement; more faculty with K- and R-series awards; and a larger, more connected state-wide mentoring network. Expected benefits to RI include enhanced attention to health priorities and disparities, a more stable CTR workforce, an enhanced sense of community for CTR investigators, more research funding, and improved ability to attract and retain CTR researchers. In the longer term, we anticipate the PD Core will contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of the state’s population.