Intentionally incorporating professional skills development into biomedical research training is essential to national goals of developing a diverse and adaptable scientific workforce. However, advances in training have been limited by a lack of central mechanisms and incentives to share effective practices, leading to inefficiencies in implementation where institutions often ?recreate the wheel?. There is strong demand for easier access to, and training and mentorship to support implementation of, evidence-based educational models for teaching essential professional skills. This project will address the NIGMS goal to develop a stable and diverse biomedical research workforce by training and mentoring faculty and staff seeking to enhance professional skills training at their institutions. We propose an integrated framework that aims to (1) develop (a) curated collections of effective professional skills development models with detailed annotation to support adoption and adaptation at institutions nationally and (b) train-the-trainer workshops to teach faculty and staff how to implement the models, with ongoing training and implementation support through mentoring communities, (2) incentivize and support faculty and staff in disseminating their models, (3) provide centralized assessment protocols and training to enhance rigorous educational evaluation. This project is innovative in supporting adaptation and implementation of professional skills development models across the training community, providing support and incentives for faculty and staff to disseminate their work, highlighting inclusive practices, and providing training and tools for rigor and reproducibility in educational evaluation. By developing faculty and staff expertise at dozens of institutions across the US, our proposal expands reach exponentially to impact research trainees across the country, enhancing training to meet the nation's workforce needs.
Intentionally incorporating professional skills development into biomedical research training is essential to national goals of developing a diverse and adaptable scientific workforce, but advances in training have been limited by a lack of central mechanisms and incentives to share effective practices, leading to inefficiencies where institutions ?recreate the wheel? or leave trainees without evidence-based professional skills training at their institutions. This project will support dissemination of effective educational approaches, provide training and mentoring for faculty and staff to implement those models, and develop assessment protocols and training. By training and mentoring faculty to enhance professional skills training at their institutions, we will impact research trainees across the country, enhancing training to meet the nation's workforce needs.
