Professional Development Core

Professional Development Core Project Summary Professional development is a critical component of efforts to enhance biomedical research activities across the Great Plains IDeA Clinical and Translational Research (GP IDeA-CTR) Network. The Professional Development Core (PDC) will act as the hub of all professional development activities in the GP IDeA-CTR, leveraging the diverse strengths of faculty across partner sites. As the hub, all professional development activities will be routed through this Core, with other Cores and collaborators acting as spokes that will offer specialized training activities facilitated by the PDC. Educational offerings will continue to address the CTR core competency areas of scientific communication, team science, translational teamwork, leadership, and cross-disciplinary training to enhance the competitiveness of our investigators. Team-based mentoring will be an area of emphasis for the PDC with the goal of supporting the GP IDeA-CTR’s efforts to recruit and effectively train scientists to work in teams to develop innovative, state-of-the-art clinical and translational science. We will continue to develop our network of CTR mentors across institutions where we have provided structured mentor training and hands-on opportunities to receive/provide mentoring and have developed a tool prototype that will connect aspiring CTR trainees to suitable mentors. The PDC specific aims are to 1) Facilitate effective professional development activities and educational CTR offerings across the GP IDeA-CTR Network to those engaged in CTR to enhance research competency, productivity, and impact; 2) Provide structured mentoring and mentor training for CTR researchers at all career stages with a focus on our innovative team-based mentorship model; and 3) Expand formal programs to support the development and retention of early-career faculty who are preparing to compete for external funding as CTR investigators. The training resources and infrastructure provided by the PDC are unique to Nebraska and the surrounding Great Plains region and will provide the needed support for CTR capacity across our region.