Alzheimer’s Trial Recruitment Innovation Lab
The Alzheimer’s Trial Recruitment Innovation Lab (ATRIL) seeks to diversify participant recruitment and accelerate the process of enrolling a representative population in preclinical and prodromal Alzheimer’s clinical trials through evidence-based science, community engagement and training. ATRIL tests novel recruitment methods that shift the focus from traditional research and healthcare settings towards community-based activities that reach diverse participants who are eligible for earlier intervention trials.
Program Leadership
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Rema Raman, PhD
Director, ATRIL
Professor of Neurology, USC Keck School of Medicine
Director, Section of Biostatistics & Section of Participant Recruitment & Retention,
Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute
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Jevay Grooms, PhD
Nonresident Senior Scholar, USC Schaeffer Institute
2023 – 2024 USC AD/ADRD RCMAR Scientist, USC Schaeffer Center
Co-Director, ATRIL
Associate Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Center for an Equitable Economy and Sustainable Society, Howard University
ATRIL Principal Investigators and Management
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Mireille Jacobson, PhD
Co-Director, Aging and Cognition Program, USC Schaeffer Center
Senior Scholar, USC Schaeffer Institute
Associate Professor, USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
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Cecily Jenkins, PhD
Principal Investigator, ATRIL
Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology, USC Keck School of Medicine
Director of Neuropsychology, USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute
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Doris Molina-Henry, PhD
Scholar, USC Schaeffer Institute
Principal Investigator, ATRI
Assistant Professor of Research Neurology
Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC
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Desi Peneva, MS
Research Program Lead, USC Schaeffer Center
Research Projects
ATRIL is a collaboration between the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute and Howard University. The Center is part of the American Heart Association’s Strategically-Focused Research Network on the Science of Diversity in Clinical Trials.
ATRIL’s research projects build on an online participant registry, the APT Webstudy, to engage and recruit diverse participants for potential enrollment into a trial-ready cohort for immediate access to ongoing Alzheimer’s clinical trials. The FIND-AD project evaluates the impact of using financial incentives in a health system or community setting on the enrollment of underrepresented groups into the registry. The REACH-AD project evaluates innovative, remote, and unsupervised digital cognitive instruments for early detection of change consistent with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease in the registry.
2024 Alzheimer’s Trial Recruitment Innovation Lab Fellowship Program — Application Closed
ATRIL Fellows
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Sanaz Dabiri, PhD
2023-2024 Postdoctoral Scholar, USC Schaeffer Center
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Marina Ritchie, PhD
2025-2026 Postdoctoral Scholar, USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute
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Olivia Wang, PhD
2024-2025 Postdoctoral Scholar, USC Schaeffer Center