Preparing the Next Generation of Researchers in Aging

描述（由申请人提供）：有抱负的研究科学家往往不能发展成功的事业，因为缺乏重点，缺乏指导，和合作的机会不足。早期的教师生涯是一个特别脆弱的时期，在此期间，他们可以受益于资深教师的指导，个人定制的正式指导，参与已建立的研究项目，对正在进行的工作进行评论，以及建立专业网络的机会。这个学术领导生涯奖（K07）的目标是双重的：(1)促进健康科学学科的初级教师研究人员的成功发展，他们的工作将为社区和长期护理机构中患有慢性疾病和残疾的老年人提供健康服务的紧迫问题提供新的视角，并在此过程中，(2)提高北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校（UNC-CH）在这些领域做出重大研究贡献的能力。拟议的项目将被安置在塞西尔·g·谢普斯健康服务研究中心的老龄化、残疾和长期护理项目中，这是校园内最大的老龄化研究项目，该项目开展了一系列跨学科研究，并拥有良好的指导记录。该项目将由Philip Sloane， MD， MPH，该项目的联合主任指导，他将投入四分之一的时间来完成这项工作。谢丽尔·齐默尔曼博士是该项目的另一位联合主任，她将在与她的K02长期护理相关的领域贡献10%的时间。其他将协助这项工作的项目教职员工包括生物统计学家、分析师、项目经理和研究助理。该项目指导委员会将包括老龄相关项目和中心、学院的负责人。拟议的项目将包括每年为四名初级教员（教员研究员）提供密集的指导和研究职业发展计划。参与者将来自医学、护理、药学、社会工作、联合保健、牙科和公共卫生等学科。每位参与者的赞助单位将保证至少40%的专门研究时间。参与者将参与一个结构化的项目，包括：a)职业指导；B)密集的研究指导；C)可用于试点和初步研究的受试者队列；D)每月举办一系列关于老龄化问题的关键方法和资金问题的研讨会；E)每两周讨论一次正在进行的工程；F)所需的研究报告和提案；g)每年有4000美元的津贴，用于建立关系网、出差和研究发展。候选人选择将优先考虑传统上代表性不足的少数民族、妇女和医学家。研究员将在通过研究生涯奖，R01或主要基金会研究补助金获得重要的独立资助后过渡到该计划。项目在个人和项目层面的成功将由现任和前任教员的学术成就来衡量。如果这种指导模式取得成功，现有的制度机制将为这种模式提供持续的支持，并将在候选人、谢普斯中心和负责研究和研究生研究的大学副校长之间建立伙伴关系。

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.