Training in Neurodegenerative Diseases

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As our population ages, the incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD), Parkinson disease (PD), Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other related neurodegenerative diseases continues to rise, and the need for successful translational research programs is imperative to maintain a healthy aging population and reduce the burden of increased health care costs on society. While much understanding of neurodegenerative mechanisms have been gained over the years of investigation, not much had been successfully translated into patient treatment which calls for deeper appreciation of these diseases through clinical perspective in the future neurodegeneration investigators. The Neurodegeneration Training Program (NTP) has been designed for selected students to provide rigorous pre-doctoral scientific training in the field of neurodegeneration along with extensive clinical exposure. The goal of the NTP is to provide trainees with the fundamental skills necessary for outstanding careers in neurodegeneration research, together with an appreciation of the challenges and complexity of diagnosing and treating neurodegenerative diseases in the clinical setting. The NTP emphasizes rigorous PHD training in fundamental aspects of neurodegeneration and mechanisms of diseases involving neurodegeneration and clinical perspectives through classroom teaching, neurodegeneration-related laboratory research and mentored neurodegenerative clinical experiences combined with educational forums that address important topics in clinical and translational neurodegeneration research. A competitive pool of trainees will combine with 19 outstanding faculty in state-of –the-art facilities to investigate a wide range of neurodegeneration-related topics spanning research areas such as molecular genetics, protein structure, cell and molecular biology and in vitro and in vivo models of disease. The NTP promotes collaboration between departments and schools at Case Western Reserve University, particularly the School of Medicine, and with its affiliated institutions in the Cleveland area: University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center (UHCMC), and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF, including the Lerner Research Institute). All of these institutions are within walking distance of each other and this rich training environment enjoys very active basic science and clinical activities. The updated curriculum provides a solid foundation for neurodegeneration research. The well-received mentored neurodegenerative clinical experience has been expanded to include six renowned clinicians enabling direct interaction with patients and caregivers in several different clinical centers close to CWRU campus providing motivation to the trainees to produce advances in disease diagnosis and therapies. The recently added career development and professional enrichment module ensures better preparedness of our trainees to achieve their desired career goals. Together, NTP training will provide trainees a solid foundation for an outstanding neurodegeneration-related career.