Training in Translational ADRD Neuroscience (TITAN)

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Project Summary/Abstract Population aging is leading to a public health crisis in the growing number of people affected by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Related Dementias (ADRD). It has been more than 15 years since the last FDA approval for a new treatment for ADRD. To continue the dramatic progress over the last decade in understanding ADRD pathophysiology we will require significant preclinical and clinical translational research to bring candidate therapies to clinical use and grow a therapeutic armamentarium sufficient to curb the public health impact of ADRD. Essential to this success will be a new generation of ADRD scientists, especially scientists with the unique training and skills necessary to design and perform translational research. This training is rarely provided through the traditional course of medical, clinical psychology, basic science, or biostatistical education. As a result, there is a dearth of well-trained ADRD translational investigators. Moreover, there is inadequate diversity among the current group of active ADRD translational investigators, limiting the unique perspectives and team science synergies that could propel the field toward critical solutions. We propose here a new training program in translational ADRD research titled “Training in Translational ADRD Neuroscience (TITAN)” at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). This new training program will be broadly inclusive of promising graduate students and junior translational scientists, such as medical doctors, clinical psychologists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, bioethicists, and neuroscientists. We have assembled an outstanding and similarly diverse team of preceptors who will ensure the success of this new training program. The program will develop novel training opportunities in ADRD translational research while also leveraging the considerable scientific and training resources at UCI, including the NIA P30-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), which since April 2020 includes a Research Education Component with complementary objectives. Similarly, the UCI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) is UCI’s NCATS-funded CTSA program that offers synergistic training options to be leveraged, such as the K-club, responsible conduct of research workshops, and KL2 funding mechanisms. We will recruit diverse trainees from multidisciplinary specialties as well as individuals from nationally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, and women.