Become an Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health at GBHI

Overview

The Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) provides innovative training, networking, and support to emerging leaders focused on improving brain health and reducing the impact of dementia in their local communities and on a global scale. It is one of seven global Atlantic Fellows programs to promote fairer, healthier, and more inclusive societies.

Join a diverse community of over 260+ Atlantic Fellows from over 60 countries worldwide dedicated to protecting the world’s aging populations from threats to brain health. Meet the 2023–2024 Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health.

Fellowship Highlights

1. Undertake a 12-month, full-time, paid residential fellowship based at GBHI at Trinity College Dublin (Trinity) in Ireland or University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the United States.
2. Study a core curriculum of neurology, health economics, epidemiology, law and ethics, leadership, health policy, creativity, and research analysis methods.
3. Connect with world-class researchers, clinicians, and policymakers for career-long collaborations.
4. Receive one-to-one mentoring on projects aimed at advancing brain health.
5. Observe and participate in clinical cases to gain practical insights.
6. Apply for competitively awarded funds for pilot projects.
7. Embrace a common program structure enriched by the unique aspects and expertise of our two sites.
8. Foster leadership abilities through tailored development programs and hands-on skills training.
9. Achieve academic distinction with the prestigious Certificate in Equity in Brain Health awarded by UCSF or Trinity.
10. Engage with a global community of seven Atlantic Fellows programs to promote fairer, healthier, and more inclusive societies.

Who should apply?

The program is for people from a wide range of disciplines, including the arts, sciences, economics, policy, medicine, journalism, community-based practice and much more. Whatever the discipline, we are looking for individuals working in the area of brain health and dementia who have great ideas, enthusiasm and leadership potential. The ideal fellow is someone who engages across disciplines, breaks down traditional barriers, and is committed to resolving issues around the inequities in brain health and dementia around the world.

Benefits of fellowship

What do Atlantic Fellows gain from the program?

Curriculum

• Fellows engage in interdisciplinary learning sessions related to brain health, dementia, and health equity including: neuroscience, health economics, social determinants of health, health policy, etc.
• Through observational, case-based and experiential learning fellows gain insight into the lived experience of people with dementia in clinical and community-based settings, and engage in projects aimed at advancing brain health.
• Fellows will develop skills that can help them succeed in acquiring funding for their future work, and improve public speaking and other forms of dissemination of ideas.
• Fellows receive leadership training aimed at setting them up to be a transformative influence on brain health around the world.
• Learn more about our approach to learning and program structure.

Career development and pilot funding

Throughout the program and beyond fellows will receive career mentorship from faculty at GBHI and in their local community. Mentors will help fellows to realize their goals and be transformative and will assist them in applying for competitive pilot awards of up to $25,000 to begin an ambitious project in their home community.

Lifelong fellowship

Becoming an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at GBHI doesn’t end upon completion of the program. In fact, our fellows become part of a lifelong engaged community which extends and amplifies the impact of the fellowship. The inter professional and interdisciplinary nature of the program encourages collaborations across sectors and each fellow contributes greatly to the cohort through sharing their experience and expertise.

Where does the fellowship take place?

Atlantic Fellows at GBHI join the full-time, paid residential program for 12 months at either the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the United States or Trinity College Dublin (Trinity) in Ireland. While much of the core Atlantic Fellows program is a shared experience across these founding sites, there are specific opportunities at each site that may be aligned with your specific training and career goals. Applicants must select one site for the fellowship-year experience on the application. 

Fellowship sites

GBHI’s two founding sites, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Trinity College Dublin (Trinity), have formed a strong partnership based on shared values and vision. This values-based approach is what makes the collaboration successful—guiding each organization and unifying not only our goals but how we achieve them.

We share a common approach and program structure which is enriched by the unique aspects and expertise of each site and their wider ecosystem of collaborators, communities and partners. While much of the core Atlantic Fellows program at GBHI is a shared experience there are specific opportunities at UCSF and Trinity that may be aligned with your specific training and career goals. Read more about these opportunities below.

Certificate Award

Atlantic Fellows are eligible to register for a Certificate award from the host institutions of UCSF and Trinity providing fellows with academic recognition of the work they undertake in the program.

Trinity

All fellows have opportunity to register for a Trinity College Postgraduate Certificate in Equity in Brain Health as part of their fellowship.

UCSF

All fellows have opportunity to register for a UCSF Certificate in Equity in Brain Health as part of their fellowship.

Differences in Program Requirements

Applicants should complete the highest degree and associated training they wish to obtain in their particular field. Applicants from all disciplines and professional backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have a strong foundation of experience and expertise and be ready to advance meaningful and impactful work.

Those not meeting the minimum criteria may still be eligible for the Atlantic Fellow program but would not receive the certificate. 

Trinity

For Certificate program: minimum of a bachelor’s degree. In certain cases where fellows do not have a prior qualification, they may be able to register based on recognition of prior learning and experience (RPL). (NB registration for Certificate is not a requirement of the fellowship at Trinity)

UCSF

For Certificate Program: minimum of a bachelor’s degree, 3.0 GPA, official transcripts needed (upon acceptance to the program).

Opportunities for Research (Trinity)

Both UCSF and Trinity emerge from an outstanding foundation of basic and clinical neuroscience, aging, and dementia with a clear emphasis that science must make a difference to society.

Trinity

Main faculty research themes with some examples of specific projects or areas of focus.

Predictive Modelling, Technology and Data Science

• Neureka
• FrailMatics
• Predictive brain health modelling group

Clinical Trials in Dementia

• Sensecog
• Dementia Trials Ireland

Lifecourse Brain Health and Risk Factors

• PREVENT Dublin
• Loneliness
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum disorder (FASD), alcohol and the brain.

Neuroimaging, Neuromodulation and Monitoring

• Novel EEG applications
• Non-invasive neurostimulation
• Applied neural engineering for brain health

Health Economics of Brain Health and Dementia

Opportunities for Research (UCSF)

Opportunities for Research (UCSF)

Both UCSF and Trinity emerge from an outstanding foundation of basic and clinical neuroscience, aging, and dementia with a clear emphasis that science must make a difference to society.

UCSF

As an academic institution and an NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Center, the UCSF Memory and Aging Center is developing world-class research. Fellows will have the opportunity to research a wide variety of dementia and brain heath related topics, including:

• Mild cognitive impairment | Alzheimer’s disease | Frontotemporal Spectrum Disorders (FTD, PPA, CBS, PSP) | Huntington’s disease or Spinocerebellar Ataxia | Prion Disease or Other Rapidly Progressive Dementias (RPDs) | Parkinson’s & Lewy Body Disease | Children and Young Adults with Families with Neurodegenerative Disease | Chinese-speaking populations | Spanish-speaking populations

Fellows can engage in research with the more than 40 Memory and Aging Center faculty. Many of the active research protocols can be found here. Fellows also have the opportunity to engage in research across other departments at UCSF as well as some of the following resources:

• The Neurodegenerative Disease Brain Bank (NDBB) serves as a repository for nervous system tissue donated for research purposes.
• The Dementia Care Pathway is a suite of tools and educational materials designed to improve the ability of non-specialists to more effectively diagnose and treat dementia.
• The Care Ecosystem is a model of dementia care designed to provide personalized, cost-efficient care for persons with dementia and their caregivers. 
• TabCAT and EXAMINER are computer- and tablet-based cognitive tests designed for use in clinical research studies.
• The Yaffe Group investigates Risk and Resilience Factors for cognitive aging and dementia, especially with the goal of identifying opportunities for prevention.
• The Rabinovici Lab leads the PET program at the MAC, applying novel PET tracers along with structural and functional MRI to a broad spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases.
• AFRICOS is a longitudinal assessment of cognition and mental health among people with HIV in East Africa and Nigeria (faculty lead: Victor Valcour).
• With data on cognition, MRI, biomarkers, genetics, and risk/resilience factor, CARDIA Cognition is an NIA-funded project investigating the determinants of cognitive and brain health in Black and White adults across the life course.
• The Health & Aging Brain Study focuses on understanding the biological, social and environmental drivers of brain health disparities in a diverse cohort of Mexican American, non-Hispanic White, and African American older adults (Contact: Kristine Yaffe)
• ReDLat fosters a consortium whose goal is to expand dementia research in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to combine genomic, neuroimaging and behavioral data to improve dementia characterization and identify novel inroads to treat neurodegeneration in diverse populations.
• The Yokoyama Lab Data Science Interest Group includes members of the Yokoyama Lab and other colleagues from UCSF who meet weekly to discuss on-going challenges and opportunities in data science using real-world examples they encounter in their research (Contact: Alexis Oddi).
• The Neurobiological Basis of Sleep Disruption in Alzheimer Disease is a study led by the Grinberg Lab in which neuropathological methods are used in post mortem human tissue to understand which brain changes associate with sleep disruption.

Opportunities for Clinical and Lived Experiences

Throughout the year, Atlantic Fellows have opportunities to observe in a range of clinical and community-based settings. These observations help them to develop a better understanding of clinical practice and dementia care and gain an appreciation and understanding of the lived experience of people with dementia and their families.

Trinity

Core Rotations: Two week-long immersive opportunities to observe services in two public tertiary hospitals serving diverse Communities in Dublin City:

St James University Hospital

Mercers Institute for Successful Aging (MISA)

Core experiences include:

• MISA, Falls and syncope unit, Movement Disorders Clinic, Geriatric Day Hospital, memory clinic.

Elective/optional experiences include:

• Dementia Services Information and Development Centre DSiDC, Martha Whiteway Psychiatry of Old Age Day Hospital, Creative Life, MISA Physiotherapy, Home First Team, Biomedical Engineering Laboratory/design lab MISA, and others

Tallaght University Hospital

• Core experiences include: National Intellectual Disability Memory Service, Assessment and post diagnostic services, Brain Health Clinic, Radiology, Psychiatry of Later life. 
• Elective/Optional experiences include: Speech and language services, Regional Specialty Memory Service, Occupational Therapy, Motor-cognitive neurological disorders clinic, Attendance at 6-week carer support course

Weekly group Clinical and Lived Experiences (CLE) debriefs and case discussions led by CLE faculty leads.

UCSF

Clinical and Lived Experiences at the UCSF create opportunities for fellows to experience first-hand how clinicians diagnose various brain-related conditions, how researchers develop tools to investigate questions surrounding brain function and disease, and how community interventions impact patient and family outcomes.

For Core Rotations, fellows complete an extensive program of nine one-month-long assignments that include two to eight hours per week of observational opportunities:

• Memory and Aging Center (MAC) Clinic
• Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC)
• Frontotemporal Dementia program project grant (PPG)
• Community outreach clinics
• Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG)
• ALBA Language Neurobiology Laboratory

Elective Rotations

• Huntington’s Disease, Ataxia and Rapidly Progressive Dementia (RPD)
• Neuropathology
• Neuropsychology
• Neuroscape

Artistic Initiatives

Arts and creativity are key to enhancing brain health throughout our lives, and artists help us to understand and communicate complex and challenging concepts and issues in new ways. GBHI embraces art and creativity to improve our understanding of brain health and dementia, and to lead change in practice, perception, and policy.

Trinity

• Fellows can participate in Creative Brain Week. Led by GBHI, this annual exploration of how brain science and creativity collide to seed new ideas in social development, culture, wellbeing, and physical, mental and brain health across the life cycle and within society.
• Series of arts and creativity-based workshops and experiences delivered with our institutional and community partners

UCSF

• Fellows are invited to participate in Creative Minds, the San Francisco community arts for brain health initiative. Fellows are also eligible to apply for a creative project grants to support an arts-based initiative during their fellowship year.
• The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), GBHI and the UCSF Memory and Aging Center joined forces in 2019 to explore the intersection of music, creativity, and brain science. Through this innovative collaboration, we work together to produce an annual series of public-facing educational programming.
• For decades, doctors have noticed a rare burst of visual creativity that occurs among a small number of patients with dementia. A collaboration of 27 scientists led by UCSF—including Atlantic Fellows and GBHI faculty—has offered new insights into how this talent develops as key areas of the brain degenerate.
• The unique Hellman Artist in Residence Program was created to foster dialogue between scientists, caregivers, patients, clinicians, artists and the public regarding creativity and the brain.
• Other opportunities include Gallery 190, a rotating art exhibition space within the Memory and Aging Center offices, and the MAC Band, a musical group comprised of UCSF MAC faculty, staff and fellows that regularly rehearses and performs on campus.

Faculty Mentors

With leading expertise and global networks, the GBHI faculty mentors can fully immerse Atlantic Fellows in a dynamic learning environment with unique opportunities for professional collaboration and growth.

Trinity

• Alejandro Lopez: digital brain health, neural engineering
• Brian Lawlor: dementia, diagnosis and care, loneliness, depression in older people
• Claire Gillan: computational psychiatry, mental health, citizen science
• Dominic Trepel: health economics of dementia, brain health antenatal health
• Ian Robertson: attention, locus coeruleus and dementia risk
• Iracema Leroi: dementia trials, sensory cognitive impairment, Public Patient Involvement (PPI), Lewy Body Dementia
• Katy Tobin: population health, biostatistics, fetal alcohol syndrome
• Lorina Naci: neuroimaging, consciousness, mid life risk factors for brain health
• Robert Whelan: computational neuroscience, EEG, neuroimaging, machine learning
• Roman Romero-Ortuno: frailty, geriatrics
• Sven Vanneste: neuromodulation, tinnitus and brain health

UCSF

• Aaron Berkowitz: neurology care and education in resource-limited settings
• Bruce Miller: frontotemporal dementia, behavioral neurology
• Charles Windon: biomarkers, disparities
• Gil Rabinovici: Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics and treatment, neuroimaging
• Howie Rosen: frontotemporal dementia, neuroimaging
• Jennifer Yokoyama: neurogenetics, research in diverse populations
• Jim Kahn: health economics, global health
• Joel Kramer: neuropsychology, longitudinal effects of aging on cognition
• Kate Possin: cognitive assessment, caregiving
• Kate Rankin: neuropsychology, social behavior
• Kristine Yaffe: epidemiology, dementia prevention
• Lea Grinberg: neuropathology, neurodegenerative diseases
• Marilu Gorno-Tempini: dyslexia, primary progressive aphasia
• Michael Geschwind: rapidly progressive dementias, movement disorders
• Renaud La Joie: imaging
• Serggio Lanata: behavioral neurology, community outreach 
• Suzee Lee: preclinical and early stage genetic neurodegenerative diseases, neuroimaging
• Virginia Sturm: emotion, neurodegenerative diseases, affective neuroscience
• Victor Valcour: HIV, professional education

Community Outreach

Atlantic Fellows participate in various Community Outreach opportunities dedicated to improving the quality of health care for vulnerable communities around issues related to brain health education, cognitive impairment, assessment and management, as well as the prevention of dementia. 

Trinity

Brain Health and Housing

One of the main community partnerships at GBHI is with Respond. Respond are a not-for-profit approved housing body, which plays a central role in providing homes and supporting communities around Ireland. Respond also provide a range of services, including family homeless services, day care services for older people, early childhood care and education, family support, and refugee resettlement services .

This partnership aims to examine our understanding of brain health and how it can be applied to housing design and to the provision and the development of sustainable communities. This approach inherently touches on social justice and equity, reflects both Respond and GBHI’s core mission and identity.

Fellows have the opportunity to engage with this project in a number of ways, including the developing Brain Healthy Village project.

UCSF

Through the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, Atlantic Fellows join multilingual and multicultural teams (English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog) for Community Outreach and Engagement opportunities. All of our services aim to be culturally appropriate. We are supported by a multidisciplinary team with experience in neurodegenerative diseases, the arts, and community engagement.

Our community outreach and engagement efforts are centered on four specific goals: 1) To extend neurological clinical services to vulnerable populations at community-based clinics and at the Memory and Aging Center; 2) Promote diversity in research by conducting outreach in neighborhoods underrepresented in MAC research projects; 3) Improve brain health literacy through community-based education; and 4) Support healthy cognitive aging through arts and activity-based community engagement.

Partner organizations include:

• Chinatown Public Health Center
• Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (Neuro-Geriatrics)
• Mission Neighborhood Resource Center 
• Bayview Senior Services

Equity Awards

• GBHI supports annual Equity Awards to catalyze innovative research or the implementation of projects related to brain health and underserved communities.
• To date, awarded research and projects have focused on issues of homelessness, dementia assessment in diverse populations, the impact of socioeconomic status on brain health; the engagement of underrepresented populations in clinical practice and research; increasing diversity in autopsies for neurodegenerative research; and validating testing of cognitive health in diverse populations.

Partnerships

GBHI partners and collaborators offer specific resources and opportunities to advance our shared goals to prevent dementia and protect brain health. Though most of our partners work across sites, several have close relations based on their location.

Trinity

• Respond
• Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)
• Brain Health Scotland

UCSF

• The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), GBHI and the UCSF Memory and Aging Center joined forces in 2019 to explore the intersection of music, creativity, and brain science. Through this innovative collaboration, we work together to produce an annual series of public-facing educational programming.
• The Mission Neighborhood Health Center provides compassionate, patient-centered care and advocates for health equity and delivery of innovative, high quality services responsive to the neighborhoods and diverse communities of San Francisco.
• The San Francisco VA Health Care System aims to honor Veterans, their families, and caregivers by offering exceptional care that improves their health and well-being. For over 60 years, the Medical Center's affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) ensures that all physicians are jointly recruited with UCSF School of Medicine.

Selection criteria

What makes a successful candidate?

Eligibility criteria/expectations of applicants

• Willingness and availability to complete 12 months of education in residence, full-time, in San Francisco (USA) or Dublin (Ireland)
• Long-term commitment to the values, mission, and goals of the program, including a potential pilot project following the fellowship year.
• The ability to bring creative and relevant projects to fruition
• Ideas that could transform the global brain health environment in vulnerable communities 
• Proficiency in English
• Successful completion of field-specific terminal degree and associated training as applicable
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally as required.

Engaging local communities

Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health come from all parts of the globe and are expected to have a meaningful impact in their home community once the fellowship is complete. To help ensure success, Atlantic Fellows must have regional support and mentorship in the communities where they hope to have impact. Applicants will be asked to outline in their applications who their regional mentors will be and how they will help them be transformative in their home country. We know that mentorship can mean different things to different people and in different places, so please read more about mentorship for further information.

Education and training

Applicants from all disciplines and professional backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have a strong foundation of experience and expertise and be ready to advance meaningful and impactful work. Applicants should complete the highest degree and associated training they wish to obtain in their particular field. For example, this includes but is not limited to competitive applicants who are:

• Artists or other creative professionals who would have: a portfolio, an interest in improving the lives of people living with dementia and their care partners, a public platform to showcase their portfolio, etc.
• Physicians who will have: completed an MD, residency and other fellowship specialties, have an interest in improving clinical practice, etc.
• Researchers who will have: completed a PhD and postdoctoral training, have an interest in generating and distributing knowledge to advance the field of brain health and dementia prevention. 
• Innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and other professionals who will have developed significant expertise in their field and track record of achievement.

Application process

Applications are competitively reviewed and select applicants will be invited to interview. Interviews are by invitation only. All applicants are notified of their interview status by email.

Application components

• Online application
• Resume or curriculum vitae
• Statements of Purpose
  • Applicants will be required to write thoughtful and succinct responses related to their interest in the program and future goals. 
• Two letters of support
  • Letters are required to demonstrate regional commitment to an applicant's success. We are looking for applicants who demonstrate leadership potential and have a support network beyond the Global Brain Health Institute. Specifically, GBHI seeks applicants with robust support networks committed to the future career and ambition of the applicant upon return to the Atlantic Fellow’s home community. These support networks may include current and past partners, institutions, organizations, employers and groups.
    
    Therefore, at least one (1) letter of reference should be from a current employer, institution, organization or group you have engaged with previously. We expect this letter to articulate support for the application and specifically address the applicant’s leadership potential. In addition, these letters should demonstrate a long-term commitment to supporting the applicant and their work after completion of the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health program. 
     

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants are advised to request letters of support from their letter writers early. Applicants are responsible for contacting their preferred letter writers directly and must confirm:

• They are willing to write a letter and can submit it online by the noted deadline. 
• Their correct email address which is required for this application form. 
• They understand the Letter Writer Guidelines for Letters of Support.

Letter writers will receive an automated email with a link to submit their letter after applicants submit their application.

Applications will be considered incomplete unless all required materials have been submitted. 

Each application component is important and evaluated thoroughly.

The program is conducted in English. Applications must be submitted in English. 

After interviews have concluded, select applicants will be required to submit official transcripts for further evaluation. Detailed instructions will be provided at that stage of the application process.

Timeline

Note that all times are based on Dublin, Ireland local time (IST, GMT + 1).

Deadline

September 20, 2024 at 5pm

Interview Notifications

November 2024

Status Notifications

January 2025

Program Start

Late August 2025

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Postdoctoral Program for Brain Health Equity

Read more about the Global Brain Health Institute and the UCSF Memory and Aging Center Postdoctoral Scholar Opportunity for US citizens and permanent residents. 

Additional resources

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Questions

Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions or email apply@gbhi.org.