Boston Roybal Center for Active Lifestyle Interventions

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Project Summary: The Boston Roybal Center for Active Lifestyle Interventions (RALI Boston) Management and Administrative Core A (MAC) provides scientific direction and organizational oversight for the entire project. We will address one of the most pressing and challenging problems of our time, namely, how to motivate adults to adopt and maintain an active lifestyle. The major goal of the MAC Core A is to oversee and coordinate all components and activities of RALI Boston across the five participating universities: Brandeis University, Northeastern University, Boston College, Boston University, and Harvard Medical School/Hebrew Senior Life. The specific aims of the MAC are: 1) to coordinate and oversee all components of the RALI Boston Center; 2) to reach out to and collaborate with community organizations that serve diverse older adult populations to guide the design and conduct of pilot studies; 3) to engage in activities that create a stimulating environment and foster cohesiveness and productivity among RALI Boston investigators across institutions and promotes evidence- based translational research; and 4) to solicit feedback from external advisors and conduct ongoing evaluations of the Center to ensure we meet all of our aims. The MAC will enable RALI Boston to continue its growth as a leader in evidence-based clinical trials using the NIH Stage Model for behavioral interventions and translational research. The MAC co-leaders (Drs. Margie Lachman and Carmen Sceppa) will share responsibility for overseeing all operations and activities of the Center. They will work in conjunction with the Pilot Core B to solicit, review, implement, and evaluate pilot projects. The MAC will be responsible for maintaining the scientific integrity of our research and will engage in problem solving, communication, meetings, seminars, and evaluation of progress. The MAC responsibilities will continue to be implemented through an Executive Committee represented by the five RALI Boston collaborating institutions, as well as ad hoc subcommittees and working groups, External Scientific and Community Advisory Committees, and affiliated faculty, including pilot investigators and other faculty from the five institutions. The Executive Committee consists of the MAC Co-leaders (Lachman, Sceppa), Pilot Core Leaders (Drs. Lachman, Lewis Lipsitz and Theresa Ellis), Dr. James Lubben, and Dr. Art Kramer – all leaders in their respective fields and senior representatives of their institutions. Most of these members have already established strong working relationships during our current funding period, as evidenced by their weekly 7 AM meetings, collaborative research activities, co-authored publications, and successful co-mentoring of junior faculty. They bring extensive multidisciplinary expertise and resources in aging, behavioral science, psychology, sociology, exercise physiology, neuroscience, and clinical trials, and share the common goal of developing and testing interventions to increase physical activity to increase the health and well-being of vulnerable populations.