Program Summary/Abstract Recent summits and national reports have emphasized the need for more rigorous methodology when designing, evaluating, and disseminating/implementing dementia care interventions. The short-term career objective of this Academic Leadership Career Award is to further develop my expertise and leadership in dementia care intervention science by developing and successfully delivering the Advanced Behavioral Intervention Design in Dementia Care (ABIDDC) program to pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees (n = 12). By successfully building and delivering the ABIDDC, I will be better positioned to achieve my long-term career objective: the creation and leadership of sustained infrastructure at the University of Minnesota (UMN) that cultivates new/early stage investigators and serves as a national resource for dementia care intervention science. The Specific Aims of the K07 are as follows: 1) Create and deliver a graduate curricula in advanced dementia care intervention science; 2) Establish a robust mentoring program to support early career investigators in dementia care science; and 3) Leverage existing support at UMN to position trainees to launch successful, independent careers in dementia care science. If the Aims of the proposed K07 are achieved, I anticipate assuming a leadership role in providing the infrastructure, training, and support necessary to cultivate a cadre of early career investigators and other investigators across the U.S. who are prepared to conduct state-of-the-art dementia care science.