REC Core

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Research Education Component – Project Summary The Research Education Component will collaborate with other ADRC Cores and affiliate members to provide critical training and education to build a pipeline of new investigators from diverse backgrounds and with the necessary research interests and skills to meaningfully contribute to ADRD research – particularly with regard to metabolic and vascular risk factors underlying ADRD pathogenesis. In the last 4 years, we supported training of 20 graduate students and 8 postdoctoral fellows, and intensive mentoring for 17 junior faculty – 70% of whom now serve as Principal Investigators on 22 NIH or foundation ADRD grants. In the next cycle, REC programs will continue to leverage unique strengths and resources of the institution and the ADRC, particularly with regard to our experiences conducting ADRD translational research – from cellular mechanisms through rodent and nonhuman primate models to large-scale multi-site clinical studies. The REC Scholars Program will provide individualized and comprehensive training to junior investigators with clinical or basic science expertise to facilitate expansion of their work to support key concepts in translational science that could be instrumental in identifying effective strategies for ADRD prevention and treatment. The REC will also develop and deliver an extensive portfolio of ADRD-related educational programming for undergraduates, graduate students, fellows, and investigators from other disciplines to further expand the new investigator pipeline through ADRC interactions with Pepper OAIC, CTSI and other institutional programs. Given Wake Forest’s well-known and successful history conducting large multi-site clinical studies in older adults, a focus of the REC training program will include Team Science to provide new investigators with the skills to ensure successful project management, development of strong and sustainable collaborations, and effective leadership of multidisciplinary teams. Such teams will be essential for scientific discovery targeting prevention and treatment of ADRDs, which are characteristically heterogeneous in clinical presentation, etiology, and pathologic trajectory.