Research Training for the Care of Vulnerable Older Adults with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias and Other Chronic Conditions
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Achieving high quality of care and better health outcomes for older adults with cognitive impairment and/or complex chronic illnesses is a national priority. Yet progress toward understanding and addressing the reasons for low quality care and poor outcomes has been limited. One factor contributing to the slow progress is the small number of new investigators committed to this field of study. To help address this research workforce shortage, we launched T32 post-doctoral research training program in Aging and Dementia (TriAD) in 2020. The goal of the program was to help expand the pool of investigators committed to addressing the needs of older adult populations in the U.S., especially among those with cognitive impairment and promote multidisciplinary approaches to aging and dementia by supporting individuals from varied training backgrounds. In the first 4 years of our program, we achieved these objectives. We matriculated 9 post-doctoral fellows from general internal medicine, palliative medicine, neurology, nursing and neuropsychology. All 6 fellows who completed training transitioned to full time research faculty positions and 4 have received career development award funding. We now seek funding to support the next 5 years of the TriAD program. Our overarching goal is to develop a multidisciplinary research workforce committed to studying and identifying solutions for improving health among older adults and those with dementia. Guided by our internal and external advisory boards consisting of nationally recognized leaders in aging, cognitive health research, and post-doctoral research training, we have taken lessons from the first 4 years of the program to increase the pool of eligible candidates for the program and improve their training experience. The TriAD curriculum is based on a conceptual framework for understanding the factors that affect healthcare use and outcomes. It consists of 9 core competencies to ensure that fellows develop the content expertise, research skills and professionalism needed to succeed as academic researchers at the intersection of aging, cognitive health and chronic illness. The training is delivered through multidisciplinary mentorship and mentored research, formal coursework, a TriAD fellowship-specific seminar series, works in progress meetings, an interdisciplinary journal club and an academic life skills support group, among others. Special emphasis is placed on multidisciplinary team science and interdisciplinary collaborations. The program leverages a deep pool of highly qualified mentors from top ranking departments of medicine, geriatrics and palliative medicine, neurology and psychiatry; a Division of General Internal Medicine with a large research infrastructure to support fellows; an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center with many resources for dementia research; and a health system with 7 hospitals and dozens of outpatient practices serving a large population of older adults across New York City. TriAD matriculates 2 candidates each year for the 2-year fellowship.
