The US continues to suffer a critical shortage of well-trained clinicians to address the needs of a growing aging population. Historically, non-geriatricians have not focused on the needs of older adults. Hence, clinicians in other specialties must be trained and encouraged to focus their practice and research on the age-related aspects of their discipline. Although important progress has been made through initiatives that integrate geriatrics and aging research into the medical, surgical and other clinical disciplines, further significant commitment is needed to train the future leaders in aging research. This U24 proposal seeks to accelerate these efforts by building a robust, multi-faceted and highly-networked national platform that will organize activities and provide resources for the cultivation, connection, and synergy of clinician-scientists in aging research from disparate disciplines across the US. This objective will be achieved through a set of four specific aims: 1) to develop an organizational structure that will facilitate the exchange and dissemination of scientific and research knowledge on aging and the care of older persons; 2) to provide mentoring and career development support for emerging investigators committed to pursuing aging research in their clinical discipline; 3) to stimulate aging research, foster networking and collaborations across disciplines, and identify and support high priority and understudied areas of aging research; 4) to develop and implement strategies for assessing the effectiveness of the Clin-STAR program and to use this information to guide future directions and report outcomes to stakeholders. The Clin-STAR Coordinating Center will accomplish these aims through a broad array of strategic initiatives, including: developing a Clin-STAR website, social media presence, and database that connects Clin-STAR investigators; organizing webinars, annual meetings and content-focused transdisciplinary interest groups; identifying and partnering with other relevant networks; providing mentorship and professional development resources; and supporting pilot grants, mini-sabbaticals and visiting professorships. The Clin-STAR Coordinating Center will leverage the accumulated research, career develop- ment, and mentoring expertise of over 20 clinician investigators (4 PIs, 10 co-investigators, and 8 advisory board members) across 20 institutions, in partnership with the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), which will serve as the National Program Office for the proposed activities. Innovative features include an organizational structure that includes 3 prominent academic resource centers that will support core- specific activities; leveraging the community of Beeson Scholars and NIA K24 recipients; an annual meeting that will abut the highly successful Beeson Annual Meeting; creation of an Outreach Fund that will support an array of opportunities to build leadership skills, support career development, raise the visibility of aging research, and promote the Clin-STAR Program; a novel evaluative approach based on network science; and efforts to establish a public-private partnership through philanthropy and leveraging existing relationships.
Substantial human capital investments by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and private partners have led to a growing number of clinician-scientists in aging research from a diverse array of specialties and disciplines. The pipeline of early-stage and established investigators would benefit greatly from a national platform that will convey scientific and research knowledge, foster networking and collaboration, provide mentoring and career development support, and advance transdisciplinary research. The overall objective of the Clin-STAR Coordinating Center is to establish a robust, multi-faceted and highly-networked national platform that will organize activities and provide resources for the cultivation, connection, and synergy of clinician-scientists in aging research from disparate specialties across the US.
