Career Development Award Program

Career Development Award Program

Program Overview and Rationale

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) Imbedded Pragmatic Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Collaboratory (U54AG063546) was established in 2019 to build the nation’s capacity to conduct embedded pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs) of non-pharmacological interventions within healthcare systems (HCS) to improve the care of people living with AD/ADRD and their care partners.

More than 6.7 million Americans have AD/ADRD. These high-need, high-cost patients are vulnerable to receiving poor quality, uncoordinated care, ultimately leading to adverse health outcomes, poor quality of life, and misuse of resources. Improving the care of people living with dementia (PLWD) and their care partners is an urgent public health challenge that must be informed by high quality evidence. While prior research has elucidated opportunities to improve AD/ADRD care, the adoption of promising interventions has been stymied by the lack of research evaluating their effectiveness when implemented under “real-world” conditions.  Pragmatic clinical trials embedded in healthcare systems have the potential to accelerate the translation of evidence-based interventions into clinical practice.

Conducting ePCTs in AD/ADRD within HCS requires unique research skills, yet the field is relatively nascent. The number of investigators capable of rigorously designing and executing ePCTs in partnership with HCS and other key stakeholders remains limited, and those that have intersecting expertise in AD/ADRD populations are even fewer. Thus, a critical objective of the IMPACT Collaboratory is to build the nation’s capacity to conduct impactful ePCTs in AD/ADRD by training a workforce of investigators prepared to carry on this work well into the future.

No RFA at this time.

career development award required materials and resources