# Training Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · BROWN UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $470,906

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The over-riding objective of the National Institute of Aging (NIA) Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer’s disease
and related dementias (AD/ADRD) Collaboratory is to serve as a national resource for the conduct of embedded
pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs) that improve the care of persons with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers
(CGs), in partnership with the healthcare systems (HCS) that serve them. Inherent in this objective is the need
to train and support a cadre of talented investigators prepared to carry on this work well into the future. As such,
the Training Core of the NIA AD/ADRD Collaboratory seeks to support the training of junior investigators to
become experts in this field. It will do so by exploiting the expansive expertise across the entire NIH AD/ADRD
Collaboratory as well as the foundational work of the National Institutes of Health HCS Collaboratory. In
collaboration with the other seven Cores, the Training Core will facilitate peer-to-peer, inter-professional,
interdisciplinary, and inter-sector (academia-HCS-government) mentoring and support to raise the skill set of all
participants. The Training Core will be co-led by Christopher M. Callahan, MD and Alexia M. Torke, MD, both
of whom bring decades of experience in developing junior investigators as independent researchers. The
Training Core’s Specific Aims are: Aim 1. To develop, fund, and coordinate a two-year junior career
development award (CDA) program for MD and PhD early career trainees who seek to build their career
conducting ePCTs in PWD by leveraging the rich resources of the AD/ADRD Collaboratory. Three CDAs will be
funded in each of Years 3 and 4, for a total of six CDAs; Aim 2. To develop and implement structured training
activities that address all aspects of conducting ePCTs in PWD for junior investigators, including both internal
trainees (CDA recipients, junior pilot project awardees, post-doctoral students in Working Core Groups) and
trainees external to the AD/ADRD Collaboratory, including: 1. a Training Workshop and Retreat in Boston in
Years 3-5, and 2. a series of web-based video training modules. Aim 3. To integrate CDA recipients and other
junior investigators within the AD/ADRD Collaboratory into the academic activities of Working Group Cores and
Teams (e.g., writing manuscripts, guidance materials) to promote their professional expertise and individual
productivity. IMPACT: Building the nation’s capacity to conduct impactful ePCTs in AD/ADRD requires not only
supporting pilot projects and NIA-funded ePCTs, but also developing a cadre of talented investigators prepared
to carry on this work well into the future. Thus, in preparing a workforce of investigators skilled in conducting
ePCTs among PWD, this unique Training Core is essential to the collective effort of an AD/ADRD Collaboratory
to transform the delivery, quality, and outcomes of care for Americans from all backgrounds suffering with
AD/ADRD and their caregivers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11092552
- **Project number:** 3U54AG063546-05S2
- **Recipient organization:** BROWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTOPHER M CALLAHAN
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $470,906
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11092552

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11092552, Training Core (3U54AG063546-05S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11092552. Licensed CC0.

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