ACHIEVE is a transdisciplinary collaboration among public, private, and civil society institutions and includes mentoring teams of established investigators with global recognition in dissemination and implementation (D&I) science, data science, social work, psychology, biomedical sciences, economics, population health, environmental health, public health, and medicine. The ultimate goal of the ACHIEVE training program is to support the development of a cadre of ~ 50 early career researchers from diverse health backgrounds from the U.S. and SSA applying D&I and data science research methods to address complex child, adolescent and families health problems and ensure that research on evidence-based programs, interventions, and policies are effectively translated to and used in real-world settings and for families and communities heavily affected by disease burden and health disparities. To achieve this goal, the program addresses the following specific aims:

Aim 1: To provide a research training program to five cohorts (~50 trainees) of health care professionals (e.g. physicians) and post-doctoral trainees from the U.S., and post-professional degree graduates (e.g., MBCHB) from SSA that equips trainees with D&I and data science research skills and knowledge through experiential learning, mentoring, “hands-on” immersion in global health implementation and data science research and methodologies, individualized consultation, goal setting and monitoring and web-based support across time.

Aim 2: Bring together an interprofessional network of committed mentors from the global north and the global south to promote equitable bi-directional learning and collaboration and ensure quality training for promising new investigators committed to applying D&I and data science research methods to address health disparities impacting children, adolescents, and their families in low-resource settings.

Core Competencies

The overall training focuses on building core competencies in D&I and data sciences research to address global child, adolescent, and family health disparities in LMIC contexts.

ACHIEVE Program Core Competencies
Assess, describe, and quantify the context for effective D&I (setting characteristics, culture, capacity, and readiness)Define and communicate D&I research and its terminology
Identify appropriate conceptual models, frameworks, or program logic for D&I changeUse evidence to evaluate and adapt D&I strategies for specific populations, settings, contexts, resources, and/or capacities.
Understand how knowledge from disciplines outside of health can inform transdisciplinary efforts in D&I research.Identify and apply common D&I measures and analytic strategies relevant to your research question(s)
Describe how to frame and analyze the context of D&I as a complex system with interacting partsEffectively integrate the concepts of sustainability/sustainment and the rationale behind them in D&I study design
Demonstrate knowledge of key statistical concepts and methods essential to finding structure in data and making predictionsIdentify a process for adapting an intervention and how the process is relevant to D&I research
Demonstrate understanding of how big data is used, the big data ecosystem and its major componentsUnderstand challenges in data sharing, data compilation and linkage, and data harmonization in LMIC context
Understand the use of different data science methodologies to get insight from the dataDemonstrate ability to construct and manage usable datasets from big data
Scientific writing  Public speaking and scientific presentation
Grant writingMutual sharing of knowledge and skills
Develop and maintain global collaborations with north-south and south-to-south partnershipsSkills in translation of knowledge from research and innovation into policy

The ACHIEVE program provides virtual seminars to further strengthen these competencies. Click here for more information on our program seminars.

Multiple Mentorship Model

A key component of our program is designed to foster independence in conceiving, planning, implementing, and synthesizing research. Substantial attention will be given to assembling trainees’ mentorship team and developing and refining their research ideas. As such, each trainee is assigned a mentoring team consisting of mentors in each of the following areas: focus global health area, D&I/data science, and a site mentor. While a primary mentor is approved by Program leadership, this team of three mentors is the trainee’s main source of research supervision and career development while in the program. The team meets either in-person or via zoom at least monthly.