Building Research across Interdisciplinary Gaps (BRIDG) R90 Training Program

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The T90/R90 Building Research across Inter-Disciplinary Gaps (BRIDG) Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) Postdoctoral Clinical Research Training Program is a partnership between the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, WA, and the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) in Portland, OR. The overarching objective of the T90/R90 BRIDG program is to prepare the next generation of clinical investigators to design and carry out competitive, rigorous CIH programs of research that are innovative, collaborative, and multi-disciplinary, thereby generating new knowledge and contributing to improving health care. The T90 component of the BRIDG program provides competitive CIH-trained, doctoral-level clinicians with didactic courses in clinical research methodology, specific learning modules dedicated to CIH-specific research topics, and hands-on, clinical research experiences mentored by funded investigators from the UW. T90s will be graduates or recent graduates of CIH-training institutions. The R90 component of the BRIDG program provides competitive conventionally trained researchers with training and mentorship in the practices of integrative health disciplines, including naturopathy, classical Chinese medicine herbal medicine, and mind and body therapies amongst others. R90s will be early-investigator level PhDs interested in clinical CIH research. R90s participate in clinical clerkships, receive research mentorship from funded investigators, and have the opportunity to collect preliminary data toward grant applications. R90s and T90s train together during weekly BRIDG Seminars, tri-annual in-person BRIDG Retreats, and annual immersive Methods Workshops to foster collaboration and learn applications of research methods to CIH research. In total, 6 R90 participants and 6 T90 trainees will be appointed for a maximum of 3 years each over the course of Years 06-10 of BRIDG. The Specific Aims of the BRIDG program are to: 1. Provide promising CIH-trained clinicians with clinical research training at the research-intensive UW, including hands-on research experience, mentorship and didactic training in clinical research methodologies; 2. Provide promising conventionally trained researchers interested in collaborative CIH clinical research with experience in CIH clinical practices and research training at the CIH-intensive NUNM, including clinical observations, research mentorship and didactic training in complementary health disciplines; 3. Apply innovative online and distance education approaches to deliver, preserve and disseminate the BRIDG program training materials; and 4. Evaluate the BRIDG program on a variety of metrics of success in order to continually improve the program. The products of the BRIDG program include the continued development of a cadre of cross-trained clinical researchers prepared to design and carry out competitive rigorous CIH research and contribute significant knowledge to the field; a collaborative distance learning-oriented training model for CIH clinical research education; and a digital archive of the BRIDG didactic material that can be made accessible and disseminated to other interested parties.