Administrative Core Rio Grande Valley AD-RCMAR

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Project Summary – Administrative Core The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Alzheimer´s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (AD-RCMAR) will attract and support researchers from multiple disciplines and at different career stages, with the goal of reducing health disparities in the Hispanic/Latino population with Alzheimer´s disease and related disorders (ADRD). The Administrative Core (AC) will be the central executive unit of UTRGV AD- RCMAR, providing leadership, coordination/communication among all activities and Cores. The AC also will provide programmatic direction, oversight of functions including regulatory compliance, administrative assistance, and supervision, ensuring synergy between the three cores and Research Education component, and will facilitate external communications and dissemination. The AC will promote innovation, leverage institutional and national resources and collaborations, and will be responsible for sustaining the Center´s focus on its scientific mission and expanding its research. Specific Aims of the AC are: 1) provide efficient and cost-effective administrative coordination for the AD-RCMAR, including support for grant administration, budget management, communication and coordination across its partners, Cores, Research Education component, and other administrative functions to support and optimize the Center's productivity and sustainability; 2) facilitate and coordinate approaches to attract and strengthen the number and research impact of highly talented investigators from underrepresented backgrounds who are committed to high-quality research on AD in Hispanics; 3) plan and oversee the solicitation, review, and selection of AD-RCMAR pilot grants aimed at identifying social/behavioral, neural, and genetic contributors to high AD prevalence in Hispanics and create a system for tracking them until and beyond the awardees' attainment of independent funding; 4) foster interactions and collaborations at UTRGV, affiliated institutions, and externally, including the Coordinating Center, other AD-RCMAR Centers, NIA Programs, lay community groups, and the annual AD-RCMAR meeting; 5) maximize and coordinate the leveraging of resources, including those available through UT and collaborating partner organizations, and institutional and external grant funds to promote the AD-RCMAR's overall mission; and 6) provide systematic, objective and formal evaluation of each Core, the Research Education component, and the AD-RCMAR as a whole, internally and by organizing and coordinating with the External Advisory Group, and fulfill all required annual and semi-annual reporting. To accomplish these aims, we have built a leadership team with extensive experience in administration of federal funding, research education, planning and evaluation. Our proposed AC will provide an effective and efficient administrative infrastructure for the UTRGV AD-RCMAR to establish, maintain, and grow a robust, interdisciplinary, cross- institutional education and research enterprise that will help reduce ADRD-associated health disparities.