The overall goal of the Yale ADRC Research Education Component (REC) is to recruit and promote the careers of a cohort of junior investigators from a diverse scientific and cultural backgrounds that will pursue rigorous, innovative and high impact biological, translational, and clinical research and will become future leaders in the Alzheimer?s disease and related dementia fields. Our application builds upon a successful track record of Yale and the ADRC in promoting the careers of junior investigators with broad interest in research relevant to the dementia field. To achieve our goals, the REC will closely interact and coordinate educational activities with all other ADRC Resource cores including the community outreach core. Furthermore, in order to encourage investigators to explore the mechanistic heterogeneity of dementia including systemic and aging factors, we will closely link our REC educational and networking activities with those of the Yale Older Americans Independence Pepper Center. The ADRC REC will provide personalized mentorship programs and comprehensive and interdisciplinary didactic activities and courses addressing key research, leadership, teaching and grant writing skills. In addition, the REC will provide various levels of financial support commensurate with the investigators career stage and will offer relevant technical training and priority access to all ADRC research cores. To recruit an expanded group of investigators, including junior faculty, clinical/research fellows and graduate students, we will have three categories of REC investigators: ADRC Scholars will receive financial support to protect their research time and will have priority access to the Center Cores; Small REC Awardees will receive support for pilot work that will allow them to apply for future ADRC Scholar funding; REC Affiliates will have access to all the resources of the ADRC and participate in didactic, career development and academic activities. Overall, the newly organized REC will serve as a hub for all educational, didactic and career development activities aimed at promoting the development of future leaders that will bridge clinical and basic sciences to improve clinical outcomes and quality of life of individuals with dementing disorders.
