T32 PNA Meeting: PNA Brain Storming

Jermon Drake will present on his F31 project idea which aims to determine whether socioeconomic status relates to brain age between midlife and older adults and if so, whether cardiometabolic factors mediate the relationship. 

PNA In-Person Meetings, Fall 2023

PNA Life after T – Practical workshops to provide instruction on skills needed after training (“T”). For example: manage one’s laboratory or research group, prepare manuals of operations, of standard operating procedures, how to hire and manage staff, and mentor trainees.

• Please attend one of these listed here:
  https://www.oacd.health.pitt.edu/programming
  or
  https://www.oacd.health.pitt.edu/video-library
• Please take notes: you will be asked to report back to the group in the spring semester.

*Speed Dating – Each trainee gives an elevator pitch of their research project, then each person identifies >1 match for their existing project, or for a new project. To facilitate this conversation, we will use an interactive organizational chart illustrating where each trainee’s work falls in the context of the ADRD line of inquiry (e.g. risk factors assessment, neuroimaging etc).

**PNA Journal Clubs – This multi-disciplinary journal club draws on expertise in Epidemiology, Psychiatry, Psychology, Rehabilitation Sciences, Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience. The goal is to discuss recent advances in neuroimaging as they apply to aging & population research. The journal clubs generate lively discussions on applications of novel neuroimaging methods in the context of aging and population studies with specific focus on ADRD. Topics include High Field MRI, Iron Deposition, Resting State MRI, and Diffusion Tensor Imaging. The Journal club shifts gears to the more informal settings of “summer roundtables” typically through discussion of reviews and seminal papers, or book clubs. We will continue the COVID-Brain which had attracted a lot of interest from other T32s, especially those in aging, psychiatry and cardiovascular medicine.

***Shark Tanks – At the start of each “tank”, trainees are given the tables and figures of a published paper, but are blind to its full content. They are required to provide a “on the fly” interpretation of the main findings; the audience has the full paper and is tasked with asking clarifying questions in rapid fire succession.

SWOT 4DM – Trainees use the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat (SWOT) model, to analyze real-world problems that require Decision Making (DM), for example job offers, prioritize requests and demands, time management.

Anyone interested in attending should contact Rafael Migoyo (rvm14@pitt.edu)