Research Career Institute in Mental Health of Aging (CIMA)

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This new application (PAR-14-304) proposes to develop a Research Career Institute in Mental Health of Aging (CIMA) to promote the development of early career investigators focused on aging and mental health across the nation. CIMA is our response to the 2012 IOM Report, which indicates that “without major innovations and reforms, the near doubling of the number of older adults in need… will entirely overwhelm existing capacity and services”. Accordingly, CIMA is a national mentoring program designed to promote the research career of talented junior faculty, post-residency and post-doctoral fellows interested in: 1. Mechanisms and developmental trajectories of behavioral pathology of mid- and late-life. 2. Development of neurobiologically-informed novel treatment and prevention models for aging-related mental health needs; and 3. Delivery of mental health services to the aging community. CIMA’s aims are to help mentees clarify their research focus, develop and maintain requisite skills and a productivity record, and acquire mentorship and support needed for a career based on competitive funding. Its training vehicles will be: 1. An annual, five day research career development immersion seminar for 16-20 mentees; 2. Pairing trainees with mentors during an one-year program focusing on both research content and planning; and 3. A web-based infrastructure to support ongoing, offsite mentoring, professional networking, and information exchange. CIMA’s assets are: 1. A leadership with organizational experience gained through service in two NIMH national research mentorship programs, the Summer Research Institute and the Advanced Research Institute; 2. a committed faculty of multidisciplinary mid-career and senior NIH-funded investigators with a successful record in research mentorship informed by the field’s scientific developments and guided by the 2015 NIMH Strategic Priorities and the RDoC Project; and 3) the recognition that pathophysiological processes starting in mid-life often evolve into aging related mental health disorders, a concept that may inform both treatment and prevention research.