Preparing the Next Generation of Researchers in Aging

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Aspiring research scientists frequently fail to develop successful careers due to a lack of focus, insufficient mentoring, and inadequate opportunities for collaboration. The early faculty years are an especially vulnerable period, during which time they could benefit from the guidance of senior faculty, individually-tailored formal instruction, participation in established research programs, critique of works-in-progress, and opportunities for professional networking. The goal of this academic leadership career award (K07) is twofold: (1) to promote the successful development of junior faculty researchers in the health sciences disciplines whose work will shed new light on pressing issues related to the provision of health services to older persons with chronic illness and disability in community and long-term care settings, and, in doing so, (2) to enhance the capacity of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) to make significant research contributions in these areas. The proposed project will be housed in the Program on Aging, Disability and Long-Term Care of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research - the largest aging research program on campus, which conducts a range of interdisciplinary research and has a strong track record of mentoring. The project will be directed by Philip Sloane, MD, MPH, the program's co-director, who will devote one-quarter time to this effort. Sheryl Zimmerman, PhD, the program's other co-director, will donate ten percent time in areas relevant to her K02 on long-term care. Other program faculty and staff who will assist in this effort include a biostatistician, analyst, project manager, and research assistant. The project steering committee will include directors of aging-oriented programs, centers and institutes on campus. The proposed project will consist of an intensive mentoring and research career development program for four junior faculties per year (Faculty Fellows). Participants will be drawn from the disciplines of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, allied health, dentistry, and public health. Each participant's sponsoring unit will guarantee a minimum of 40 % dedicated research time. Participants will engage in a structured program consisting of: a) career mentoring; b) intensive research mentoring; c) availability of subject cohorts for use in pilot and preliminary studies; d) a monthly seminar series on critical methodological and funding issues in aging; e) biweekly discussions of works-in-progress; f) required research presentations and proposals; and g) a $4,000 annual allowance for networking, professional travel, and research development. Candidate selection will assign priority to traditionally underrepresented minorities, women, and physician-scientists. Fellows will transition out of the program upon obtaining significant independent funding through a research career award, R01, or major foundation research grant. Project success on both individual and programmatic levels will be measured by academic accomplishments of current and former Faculty Fellows. Institutional mechanisms are in place to provide ongoing support for this model of mentoring, if successful, and they will be pursued as a partnership between the Candidate, the Sheps Center, and the University's Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies.