Achieving the goal of the IDeA-CTR Program to improve our nation's health requires that the research establishment recruit and effectively train scientists and physicians to collaboratively conduct cutting edge clinical and translational biomedical research. Accordingly, the mission of the Northern New England Clinical and Translational Research Network's Professional Development Core (PDC) is to develop robust mentoring programs and novel, effective educational offerings that increase the number and the productivity of those engaged in clinical and translational research in our region. Several important principles will guide the development of the PDC. These will include: (i) a strong focus on developing educational offerings and mentoring programs that take advantage of the diverse strengths of our institutions and their faculty; (ii) the development of specific educational programs and resources that prioritize and actively ?catalyze?, team science, thus enhancing our ability to initiate and manage complex multidisciplinary and multi-institutional translational research projects; (iii) the development of innovative team-based ?mosaic? mentoring models that recognize the complex mix of professional expectations placed on clinical investigators; (iv) a commitment to bringing more practicing clinicians into the investigative arena to take advantage of their clinical expertise and access to potential research subjects; and (v) the recognition that our education and mentorship programs must facilitate a bi-directional flow of ideas and information within our institutions and our region. The PDC will accomplish these goals by addressing the following specific aims: 1) to enhance the capabilities of basic scientists and collaborating physicians to conceive, participate in and manage multidisciplinary and bi- directional bench-to-bedside translational research projects; 2) to develop flexible, but rigorous and coordinated educational and training programs to enhance the research competency and participation of clinicians based within varied practice settings and disciplines and with a diverse set of professional goals; 3) to take advantage of the rich supply of mentors at our differing institutions, so as to develop a novel, team- based, mosaic mentorship model that provides guidance and enduring support to mentees with diverse needs and professional goals in order to actively facilitate their success; and 4) to develop a unique certificate program for training PhD and masters level scientists to become clinical and translational research catalysts or community practice-based research catalysts as a defined career path to enhance the national capacity for conducting clinical and translational research. Achieving these specific aims will strongly enhance our ability to foster collaborative, multidisciplinary clinical and translational biomedical research across Northern New England.
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