About Us

The Training Researchers to Advance Inclusion Networks (TRAIN) Center is a collaborative effort between the Stanford University School of Medicine and Morehouse School of Medicine. Led by esteemed investigators, Hannah Valantine, M.B.B.S., M.D., and Priscilla Pemu, M.B.B.S., M.S.C.R., the TRAIN Center aims to establish a coordinated training program that will empower scientists to advance the field of clinical research and foster inclusivity in scientific endeavors. Through a combination of classes, community meetings, career development opportunities, and peer-to-peer learning, the TRAIN initiative will provide scientists with the knowledge and skills needed to conduct studies in full partnership with patients and communities.

The TRAIN Center has developed an open-access curriculum that is structured around five core modules, encompassing the essential components of clinical research, as well as critical topics related to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion; and community engagement and community-based participatory research. The modules of the curriculum are designed to provide post-doctoral scholars and early-career investigators with an understanding of best practices for conducting research in an inclusive and equitable manner.

The TRAIN Center is part of a groundbreaking $24 million research project led by research scientists from 12 universities and healthcare systems, as part of the Strategically Focused Research Network on the Science of Diversity in Clinical Trials of the American Heart Association (AHA). This initiative, funded in part by Pfizer and Gates Ventures, aims to study, and address the barriers to inclusion of people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in clinical research trials, and identify best practices to overcome these barriers across the research community. The AHA is committed to addressing social determinants of health and improving health equity for all communities. While some of the research projects will focus on heart and brain health, the overarching goal of the initiative is to identify replicable best practices that ensure the full inclusion of people from all races and ethnicities in medical research for various disease states.

Donald Lloyd-Jones, M.D., Sc.M., FAHA, President of the American Heart Association, emphasized the importance of addressing barriers to diversity in clinical research, including lack of access to medical care, distrust of the research community, cultural and language differences, literacy and technology challenges, and structural racism in processes and systems. The TRAIN initiative is at the forefront of driving efforts to identify and address these challenges by equipping researchers with essential skills and best practices for effectively recruiting and engaging diverse populations in clinical trials.

To get in touch, please contact the TRAIN Center Program Manager, Cassandra Broadwin (cassbroa@stanford.edu).