Training Tracks

Course Description

Short-term trainees (3 months, mandatory) will complete didactic coursework at their training institutions, as applicable. In addition, we have developed a suite of Web-based coursework comprising 22 video-taped lectures that are available to our trainees via the web to supplement courses mandated by the trainee’s home institution in psychiatry/ neurology/ research methods.

Our training faculty members have produced lectures on core topics including Research Methods, Psychiatric and Psychometric Assessments, Design of Interventional studies, Basics of Implementation Research, Basic Data Management, Basic Statistical Analysis, Interpretation of Published Clinical Trials, Bioinformatics, Responsible Conduct of Research, Ethics of Clinical Trial Design and Human Subjects Protections, Grantsmanship and Manuscript Writing and Implementation Science (CFIR). In addition, there are implementation research, RDoC methodology, cognitive assessment tools and cognitive dysfunction in neurologic disorders.

Additionally, trainees will complete core Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) training. Trainees will be provided additional reading materials as requested.   Upon completion of the program, all trainees will receive a PRIIIIA- TEAMS Certificate.

Course Description

The program will find and train highly motivated and resourceful individuals. Eligible trainees will be those working toward (or prepared to enrol in) a master’s degree, “MD/DM” (post-graduate residency training in India that includes research) or PhD at their institution. 

The broad aim of the training is interdisciplinary psychiatric intervention or implementation research. All long-term trainees will complete the same lecture series as the short-term trainees and be assigned mentors. After completion of the lecture series and CITI training modules, trainees will design, prepare and implement their research protocol. 

In-country and US-based mentors will be available to assist trainees throughout the process and to help apply for funding for implementation of their research protocol. Additionally, trainees may be invited to participate in select training and conference opportunities in Pittsburgh, PA. 

The training will comprise: (1) Didactic training in key courses, as well as :”research survival skills” and ethics (these courses may overlap with the web-based courses for the short-term trainees); (2) High quality research thesis supervised by Indian and US faculty; (3) Selected training in Pittsburgh (including didactic coursework and relevant focused training); (4) Opportunities for cross-fertilized training in India and the USA; (5) Regular and rigorous review, including feedback from mentors and peer-trainees. We will support trainees in completing their academic degrees (e.g., master’s degree, MD/DM, PhD).

Trainees are expected to learn and participate in all aspects of the research process from protocol development, obtaining ethics committee approval and site permission, US-based IRB approval, data collection and analysis, creation of data and safety monitoring boards, report results and publish research findings.

Trainees will be mentored by training faculty who align with their research interests and trainee needs.  Each trainee will have a local mentor and a US faculty member; the coupling is intended to enhance local relevance for the research, as well as the quality of the research to ensure world-class standards.  In addition, team building will be encouraged to add more specialized mentors.          

Examples of research projects. The overarching theme for research projects will be intervention, implementation or ethics research. The areas of inquiry may include: (1) treatment studies using repurposed drugs or novel hypotheses; (2) studies of the pilot implementation program at ASHWINI, an NGO partner for PRIIIA for implementation research; (3) research into implementation of established interventions at trainee or mentor sites;  (4) drugs for disorders co-morbid with and highly prevalent in patients with psychiatric disorders, primarily focusing on diabetes and its concomitants (e.g., obesity, cardiovascular diseases); (5) bioinformatics directly related to drug development research; (6) innovative mHealth or internet-based approaches for distance evaluation and compliance with treatment (e.g., cell phone technologies); (7) identifying individuals particularly likely to benefit from specific drugs through biomarker studies; (8) laboratory-based research to identify biomarkers, including genetic markers of treatment response; (9) laboratory-based research to screen repurposed drugs of potential interest for cognitive dysfunction; (10) if other promising leads emerge during the study, we will consider appropriate training; and (11) overall, working toward reducing stigma around mental health issues through dissemination of results and other means.

The long-term training program is an intensive training program for eligible Master's, PhD or  MD/DM students who should be affiliated with or will be made PRIIIA-TEAMS Fellow of St. John’s Medical College and Hospital, Bengaluru as required.

Upon completion of the program, all trainees will receive a PRIIIA-TEAMS Certificate and successfully conduct a research project.

We invite applications for PRIIIA-Teams training from middle and senior level faculty from institutions across India. These applicants should be motivated to learn mentorship and have research ideas for which they need funding and guidance. They will be asked to submit biosketches along with a research proposal and proof that they have a team or students under their supervision. Each mentor will be assigned a senior Indian and US mentor. The training will be tailored to the needs of the individual Mentor. In principle, these mentor-mentee teams can utilize most of the opportunities listed above for long term trainees.  

Options include: (1) didactic training in key courses, as well as “research survival skills” and ethics (these courses may overlap with the web-based courses for the Short-term trainees); (2) high quality research, which they will  supervise under the guidance of Indian and US faculty; (3) selected training in Pittsburgh (including didactic coursework and relevant focused training); (4) regular and rigorous review, including feedback from trainees; and (5) “Mentorathons” (one in each year of the grant), an innovation based on our Grantathon model. 

As with the Grantathon, the Mentorathon will last for up to five days. Mentorathons will include training faculty, Mentors, and on final days of the workshops, their trainees. Content for the workshop will be split across days to ensure appropriate content for mentors and mentees, with jointly focused content included on the last day of the Mentorathon. The objective will be to develop research mentors who can advance various research ideas and organize research teams. We expect the Year 1 Mentorathon to include three new Group B Apprentice Mentors as well as previous PRIIIA trainees who have been serving as or are ready to become mentors. Apprentice Mentors will be invited back to participate in each subsequent Mentorathon, furthering our multiplier effect.  The focus of training will include mentorship skills, team building, grant writing, manuscript preparation, and if needed, public speaking.

We will encourage our Mentors to recruit teams from their sites who will work together with a long-term trainee to conduct interdisciplinary research and, when appropriate, to apply for other training opportunities (i.e., Short-term, Grantathons). We will seek the guidance of state-of-art computer scientists from the C-DAC and ICMR, as well as experts from the institutions recruited by mentor-trainees themselves.  NGO teams will be encouraged to get together for research as well as to address stigma. We will help them organize teams for research interfaces between our disorders of interest, diabetes, stigma, and mHealth solutions. In addition, the attendees will learn team building management skills.

Advanced In Country Research Award (AICRA).

This mechanism is under review and temporarily suspended at present.