# Dissemination & Implementation Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · BROWN UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $470,907

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Over the past four decades, a host of non-pharmacologic interventions tested in trials (NIA Stage I, II, or III)
have demonstrated significant clinical benefits for people living with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or an AD-related
dementia (AD/ADRD;PWD) and family caregivers. Yet, with few exceptions, proven interventions have neither
been tested in health care settings (HCS) using embedded pragmatic trial (ePCTs) designs nor widely
disseminated. The lack of pragmatic testing in HCS impedes the adoption of such interventions into practice,
with families and health providers continuing to have limited knowledge of and access to evidence-based
care. To address this critical gap, the Dissemination and Implementation Core (D&I) of the NIA AD/ADRD
HCS Collaboratory (Collaboratory) will assist investigators, and stakeholders (HCS, PWD, caregivers,
providers, payers) when implementing and disseminating their dementia care interventions in the context of
ePCTs. This Core is based on a fundamental scientific assumption: D&I considerations are critical to address
throughout a project’s life-cycle (from idea conception, protocol development and testing to wide scale
implementation via the NIA Stage Model) to optimize an intervention’s potentiality for integration into HCS. A
major contribution of the D&I Core will be to advance and evaluate the utility of a novel framework to ascertain
level of “readiness” of an intervention to proceed to ePCTs. The D&I Core will be co-led by Drs. Laura N.
Gitlin and Joseph Gaugler and include an Executive Committee (EC) of five internationally recognized
experts in dementia implementation research. The D&I Core’s activities will be closely integrated with and
informed by the AD/ADRD Collaboratory’s Stakeholder Engagement and Diversity/Inclusion Teams, HCS
Leadership Council, and the Pilot, Training, Design/Statistics and Regulation/Ethics Cores. The Specific
Aims are: Aim 1. Conduct, regularly update, and disseminate syntheses of the scientific literature regarding
implementation of non-pharmacologic interventions for PWD and/or caregivers; Aim 2: Advance a framework
for identifying stage of development of pilot studies and their readiness for conducting ePCT; and Aim 3:
Provide ongoing technical assistance tailored to study needs of AD/ADRD Collaboratory-funded pilot project
leaders and Career Development Awardees, and other NIA-funded investigators doing ePCTs from the outset
of project development to enable them to advance their implementation and dissemination plans. IMPACT:
The persistent failure of widespread implementation of proven interventions in HCS for PWD and caregivers
is due in large part to inattention to D&I science from the inception of an intervention’s development.
Conducting ePCTs will require systematic attention to evidentiary practices for implementing studies in
complex, variegated HCS. The D&I Core is essential to assure implementation success of pilot studies, CDAs
and ePCTs in order t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11092547
- **Project number:** 3U54AG063546-05S2
- **Recipient organization:** BROWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Laura N. Gitlin
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $470,907
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11092547

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11092547, Dissemination & Implementation Core (3U54AG063546-05S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11092547. Licensed CC0.

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