Core D. External Network Core

PROJECT ABSTRACT (External Network Core) The External Network Core of the Center to Accelerate Population Research in Alzheimer’s (CAPRA) aims to create and sustain opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration and interaction by developing networks of scientists across disciplines, academic stage, and institutions focused on high-priority topics in policy and healthcare research related to AD/ADRD. These networks create opportunities for scientists to critique and learn from each other’s research and to build multidisciplinary collaborations that are synergistic across research groups, strengthen the rigor of research, and accelerate the development of new knowledge. The External Network Core is key to CAPRA’s overarching strategy to drive rigorous and impactful AD/ADRD research because it focuses on engaging investigators from different institutions to encourage cross-fertilization, generation of new ideas, and shared learning on how to advance rigorously designed new research. We plan to support three External Networks at differing stages of development. (1) Financial and Economic Decision-making in AD/ADRD for Individuals and Populations. In the prior funding period, CAPRA, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), successfully launched this network which includes an annual, in-person scientific meeting which we now plan to expand by opening access to the scientific meeting broadly. (2) Long-term Care and AD/ADRD. We also launched the Long-Term Care (LTC) network in collaboration with the Gateway to Global Aging Data, based at the University of Southern California. The LTC network holds monthly research seminars engaging international and U.S. investigators. CAPRA has brought the U.S. perspective to this international scientific network. To further the growth of long-term care research in the U.S., we plan to add activities that engage more U.S. investigators, especially early stage, to build capacity in this priority area of research at a time when new data resources are becoming available. (3) Diffusion of New Diagnostics and Drugs in AD. We will launch this network to address healthcare delivery and ethical challenges that accompany new disease-modifying drugs and easily obtained blood-based biomarkers for AD in partnership with the NSF-funded UM Center for Data Discovery and Treatment Assessment which engages informaticists and industry partners. Each network will use in-person meetings and at-distance videoconferencing collaboration strategies as appropriate for the network’s stage of development. The External Network Core impact will be to advance science related to demography, economics and health services research in AD/ADRD by giving investigators, both expert and newly joining the field, the benefits of sharing their expertise, and opportunities for collaboration and cross-fertilization that stimulate novel and impactful future studies.