RWJF New Connections

Supporting a mentoring and training program for RWJF's New Connections grantees, alumni and network

CMMHR has been awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to provide mentoring and training for New Connections program grantees, alumni and the broader network. New Connections is a RWJF national program designed to expand the diversity of perspectives that inform RWJF program strategy and introduce new researchers and scholars to the Foundation that represent historically underrepresented research communities. The grant is part of the RWJ Human Capital program, with the goals of supporting diverse scholars to conduct pioneering healthcare research by developing skills, offering resources, and providing training to develop capacity and create effective leaders. At the end of the grant period, we will provide a set of lasting deliverables for the New Connections Program and the Foundation, including briefs on mentoring, training modules, and webinar presentations. We have developed a three tiered program to share with New Connections and the larger network.

Tier 1: Provide an individually mentored, didactic research, training, and support program for five to six current RWJF New Connections grantees and develop two related training briefs. The mentees selected will go through seven steps: 1) Review & Assesment; 2) Presentation of grantee research ideas with assigned mentor; 3) Develop outline and preliminary draft of research topic and feedback from mentors; 4) Draft of manuscript or proposal and review by mentors; 5) Revise manuscript or proposal; 6) Presentation critiques; 7) Dissemination

Tier 2: CMMHR investigators will determine two to three potential trainings addressing areas of weakness or common difficulty identified by the trainees. These training areas may be linked to research briefs which reflect learning in the mentorship process. Mentors will be responsible for identifying the short seminars based on the progress made by each fellow at least every six months.

  • As part of the RWJF Mentoring and Training grant, mentees presented research manuscripts and mock grant proposals as part of the Family Research Consortium's 2011 Summer Institute on July 21-23rd and the New Connections 5th Annual Symposium on June 8th.
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    Tier 3: CMMHR investigators will prepare a series of 2-3 webinar presentations for the broader New Connections network of grantees, alumni and other applicants and interested individuals, using WebEx or another similar technology. These will provide a broader overview of some of the areas of the one-on-one mentee work that might be most useful for developing researchers

  • Dr. Alegria delivered a webinar on Tips for Successful Grant Development and Submission on Friday, February 18, 2011. The webinar covered cover common mistakes made in grant applications, the new process of grant review and recommendations on how to align research to the agenda of NIH Institutes.
  • Dr. Benjamin Cook presented a webinar entitled, A Primer on Using Regression Analysis for Understanding Health and Health Care Disparities, on Tuesday May 17, 2011. The session provided an overview of regression analyses and other statistical methods with a focus on measuring racial disparities in health and health care.
  • Dr. Norah Mulvaney-Day presented a webinar on Strategies for Successful Application of Qualitative Research Methods in Health Services Research on September 27th. The webinar provided an overview of qualitative research methods with a focus on tools and strategies for applying these methods in health services and disparities research.

      • The project is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Grant ID # 68194