Admin Core

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT – ADMINISTRATIVE CORE The RCMAR Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (CADC) at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has been funded continuously since 1997. We have well-established comprehensive, interdisciplinary program of research and mentoring with broad impact on minority aging research. CADC's research theme focuses on understanding mechanisms of health disparities and developing interventions to improve those disparities. CADC's assets include strong minority and scientific leadership and a passionate commitment to achieving health equity among older adults. CADC is a magnet center at UCSF for faculty and post-doctoral fellows conducting health disparities research. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, CADC has geographical access to every major racial/ethnic group in the U.S. and a range of economically diverse and sexual and gender minority populations of older adults. We have relationships and studies in urban and rural communities, and an extensive network of over 100 community and health care partners serving older adult disparity populations, which we utilize to enrich the research opportunities and mentoring of our CADC Scientists (underrepresented minority aging and health disparities investigators). For the next 5 years, our CADC Administrative Core (AC) will continue to provide intellectual leadership and manage our robust mentoring program for underrepresented investigators focused on our research theme. The aims of the AC are to 1) coordinate the activities of our Research Education Component (REC), Analysis Core (AnC), and Community Liaison and Recruitment Core (CLRC) internally, and externally with other RCMARs and the RCMAR Coordinating Center; 2) conduct a rigorous recruitment, review and selection process to award 3-4 pilot study grants per year to CADC Scientists focused on the Center's research theme; 3) maintain a system for tracking pilot study investigators through award of independent research funding (e.g., NIH R01 or K award) and complete a semi-annual report with the RCMAR Coordinating Center; 4) with guidance from an internal Executive Committee composed of all CADC Faculty, an External Advisory Committee (composed of minority aging scientific experts Lisa Barnes, PhD, Lisa Cooper, MD, and Kenneth Covinsky, MD), and a Community Advisory Board, the AC will maintain the structure, processes, and culture of the CADC to effectively mentor CADC Scientists; 5) ensure the participation of at least three CADC Faculty and two CADC Scientist representatives at the annual RCMAR meetings; and 6) expand joint research and mentoring activities between CADC Faculty and Scientists and other NIA-sponsored Centers, programs, and aging-related researchers, e.g., the UCSF Memory and Aging Center (NIA-funded Alzheimer's Disease Research Center) and the UCSF Pepper Center. The AC will ensure integration of our cores to provide a robust, mentoring program for underrepresented junior investigators who will enhance the diversity of the aging-related workforce and help meet the needs of our aging and increasingly diverse older adult population for years to come.