The UA Steele Children’s Research Center has received a five-year, $3 million, LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities) continuation grant to train individuals to improve the health status of infants, children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental and related disabilities.
A center of excellence at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, the UA Steele Center is part of the University of Arizona Health Sciences – the statewide leader in training health professionals.
Sydney Rice MD, MS, associate professor, and Eileen McGrath, PhD, assistant professor, are co-directors of the Arizona LEND program. Dr. Rice is an associate professor of pediatrics and a developmental and behavioral pediatrician; Dr. McGrath is an assistant professor of pediatrics and public health and the training director for Arizona LEND.
“This program enables us to bring together the expertise of families and professionals across Arizona,” said Dr. Rice. “The Arizona LEND program trains interdisciplinary leaders in clinical care and research, and gives participants the opportunity to work together as professionals with diverse backgrounds and training. This is a challenging program that supports present and future state leaders.”
LEND programs are graduate and post-graduate interdisciplinary leadership training programs federally funded through the Maternal Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
The Arizona LEND training program produces leaders and innovators in the field of autism and other neurodevelopmental and related disabilities who are solidly grounded in their own disciplines and able to work collaboratively with colleagues in interdisciplinary settings. Arizona LEND provides education and training in: clinical knowledge, leadership, collaboration and research. Trainees are involved in supervised clinical experiences with a wide variety of disorders and receive individual mentoring.
“Arizona LEND provides a unique opportunity for trainees to work closely with current leaders in the field of neurodevelopmental and other related disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders,” said Dr. McGrath. “Trainees learn to work collaboratively as interdisciplinary/interprofessional team members providing family-centered, culturally effective care to children with special health-care needs and their families.”
Arizona LEND trains professionals in more than 15 different disciplines: audiology, family/parent, genetics, health administration, law, nursing, nutrition, occupational therapy, pediatrics/medicine, pediatric dentistry, physical therapy, psychology, public health policy, social work, special education/education, speech language pathology and technology.
About the University of Arizona Health Sciences
The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. The UA Health Sciences includes the UA Colleges of Medicine (Phoenix and Tucson), Nursing, Pharmacy and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, the UA Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona and the greater Southwest to provide cutting-edge health education, research, patient care and community outreach services. A major economic engine, the UA Health Sciences employs almost 5,000 people, has nearly 1,000 faculty members and garners more than $126 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: http://uahs.arizona.edu
About the UA Steele Children’s Research Center
The UA Steele Children’s Research Center is one of the prestigious Centers of Excellence at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson at the University of Arizona Health Sciences. It is the state’s only academic pediatric research center designated by the Arizona Board of Regents, and the only facility in Southern Arizona where researchers and physician-scientists are dedicated to advancing medical knowledge through basic and translational research to improve children’s health. As researchers, they seek to discover answers to children’s medical mysteries. As physician-scientists, they provide compassionate care to hospitalized patients at Banner Children’s at Diamond Children’s Medical Center and pediatric outpatient clinics throughout Tucson and the state. And, as faculty members with the UA Department of Pediatrics, they teach and train the next generation of pediatricians and researchers.