Center of Excellence for Diabetes in Americans of Mexican Descent

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The proposed Center of Excellence on Diabetes in Americans of Mexican Descent aims to conduct research on the physiologic progression to diabetes and its complications among Mexican Americans, and to develop diabetes prevention strategies and test innovative approaches to effective interventions in a minority population severely affected by type 2 diabetes. This Center proposes an administrative core, a research core including three research projects and two pilot studies, a training core and a community engagement core. The purpose of the administrative core is to oversee the allocation of support and resources to each of the 4 Center of Excellence (COE) cores and to coordinate their interaction so that they operate with maximum synergy and minimum duplication of effort. The Brownsville Campus of the University of Texas School of Public Health is the primary institution for this application, and the partner institution is the geographically adjacent University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College (UTB/TSC). Faculty from the sister campus of the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston are also participating in this application. These organizations are all currently partners in the existing Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach and Research on Disparities in Health and Training (EXPORT) grant funded in March 2003. Dr. Colom and Dr. McCormick are the Co-Principal Investigators (Co-Pis) of the existing EXPORT grant and will continue those roles in this application. Letters of support from the Provost and President of UTB are in appendix 1. Letters of support from appropriate University of Texas School of Public Health officials are also found in Appendix 1. The administrative core will be responsible for the allocation and oversight of all Center resources and facilitate communication between the COE components. The direction of the COE will be under the Executive Committee consisting of the PI who is also the Center Director, and the principal investigators of the COE cores and the PI of the UTB/TSC partner. The administrative core will establish a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) that will meet annually to review the progress and content of the program. It will consist of regional experts in the key disciplines of this application The administrative core will also be responsible, along with the Community Engagement Core, for maintaining current community relationships, and for administering the functions of the Community Advisory Board, currently fully functional for the Project EXPORT. The Administrative Core will be responsible for establishing research relationships with the other Centers of Excellence in the NCMHD network. The Executive Committee in conjunction with the SAC will provide oversight and support for the selection of the core center faculty and the minority health disparities research to be conducted within the center. The Administrative Core will work with the SAC to plan and support new applications for research based on the pilots from EXPORT and from data generated from this exploratory COE. Finally the Administrative Core will be responsible for maintaining the existing website for the Center of Excellence.