PROJECT SUMMARY
This D43 grant application aims to sustainably strengthen the research capacity of the Universidad Javeriana in
Bogotá, Colombia with an emphasis on training in-country experts to develop and conduct research focused on
Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Our application is in response to NOT-AG-21-027 from the
National Institute of Aging (NIA) aimed at encouraging the development of training and research programs
related to ADRD in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). We build on existing research collaborations,
funded by the National Institute of Aging, in the Multi-Partner Consortium to Expand Dementia Research in Latin
America (ReDLat, R01-AG-057234) between UCSF and Universidad Javeriana. We also expand UCSF’s Global
Brain Health Institute’s (GBHI) eight-year engagement in Colombia by training five Atlantic Fellows for Equity in
Brain Health in a non-residential fashion to advance ADRD research, education, and care. Three pillars of
activities described in this application will be used to increase ADRD research capacity for the university framed
around a new Doctorate of Neurosciences program led by MPI, Santamaría-García. First, we will augment
programing for a new Doctorate of Neuroscience degree with further coursework in statistics and grant writing.
A full-time statistician at Universidad Javeriana will amplify the success of this program. We will support the most
promising doctorate students with stipends and seed grants to free up time needed to advance their research.
Second, we will increase capacity of the early-career mentoring pool through a non-residential experience
provided by GBHI and will provide access to seed grant funding for early-career, patient-oriented faculty at
Universidad Javeriana. Most seed grants to faculty will be offered in year 1 to create a platform for research
projects that postdoctorate students can join and to provide preliminary data for NIH applications, a core metric
of success. The non-residential experience at GBHI will be 12 months in duration and will include coursework
around ADRD, leadership, mentoring, and skills such as grant writing. Resources for these alumni include access
to USD 25,000 pilot grants program. Finally, we will increase in-country networking and research exchange
opportunities, in collaboration with the Universidad de Antioquia which has a robust NIH-supported research
program around early-onset, dominant-inherited AD. An in-country annual scientific exchange and workshop will
fortify these collaborations. In all, the proposed work aims to substantially fortify Universidad Javeriana’s
research capacity for ADRD research in a manner that strengthens the renewal of this grant in five years led by
MPIs in Colombia.