REC - Research Education Core

REVISED PROJECT SUMMARY – RESEARCH EDUCATION COMPONENT (REC) The goal of the Research Education Component (REC) of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) is to support educational activities that ensure rigorous comprehensive training in AD and related dementias (ADRD) research and promote the training of a multifaceted workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral, and clinical needs in ADRD research. The Wisconsin ADRC REC will achieve this goal by providing a program of training to all ADRC-affiliated trainees, in addition to identifying exceptional junior investigators who will be specifically supported in their development into independent Alzheimer’s researchers (Wisconsin ADRC REC Scholars). The REC will provide trainees with individualized career coaching and mentorship to support their growth and training to achieve proficiency in core research competencies and eight Wisconsin ADRC content areas (Life Course Exposome, Clinical and Neuropsychology, Care Research, Basic Science and Neuropathology, Data Analytics, Community Based Research, Omics, and Neuroimaging and Fluid Biomarkers). Training will occur through seminars, degree and certificate programs, workshops, and mentored research experiences. To develop the next generation of research leaders, we must attract junior faculty and trainees—at every level and with a variety of perspectives and backgrounds—to this field. Accordingly, we will work with training programs across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus to infuse AD-related research concepts into predoctoral, postdoctoral, and junior faculty training programs, as well as work with partners beyond campus, to inspire early career investigators to build research careers in ADRD. Moreover, we will intentionally recruit and support researchers into the ADRD workforce to cultivate the next generation of ADRD research leaders in our field. In order to ensure our aims are met, the REC will evaluate the effectiveness of the research training program through a collaboration with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, a national leader in education evaluation. We will use mixed methods approaches to assess the efficacy of the REC, to ensure our goals are met. The last four years of the Wisconsin ADRC REC have been tremendously productive and impactful, and in this renewal application we propose enhanced activities to carry our mission yet farther.