Research Education Component

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RESEARCH EDUCATION COMPONENT ABSTRACT The Community Health and Aging in Native Groups of Elders (CHANGE) Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) is a new iteration of the Native Elder Research Center (NERC) that has been continually funded since its inception in 1998. We will continue this RCMAR’s mission to increase the diversity of investigators conducting research with US Native populations, defined here as American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander people. Our program has evolved to an intensive 18-month program comprising a 12-month pilot study, a 3-day workshop, and a 6-month grant writing program. The Research Education Component will be led by Clemma Muller, PhD, MS, at Washington State University. She has been affiliated with RCMARs since 2002 and currently leads the Analysis Cores for 2 RCMARs. We feature subcontract affiliations with Mentors: Valarie Jernigan, PhD (Choctaw), a former NERC Faculty and Scientist, at Oklahoma State University; Scott Okamoto, PhD, a current RCMAR mentor, at University of Hawai’i at Mānoa; and Mandy Fretts, PhD (Eel Ground First Nation), at University of Washington. These faculty represent universities that employ many Native and other underrepresented minority (URM) early-stage investigators whose participation as CHANGE Scientists will advance their careers and accelerate Native- focused aging research at their institutions. CHANGE is highly responsive to the RFA’s requirements of recruiting Scientists and providing Mentors from the parent or affiliated institutions, while concurrently accommodating the real-world limitations presented by the highly-dispersed and relatively-small community of early-stage investigators and senior faculty conducting Native-focused aging health research. Our Specific Aims are to: 1) Provide intensive mentoring for 9 CHANGE Scientists, with customized support for career advancement and a capacity-building “mentor pipeline;” 2) Facilitate professional development activities to build capacity for leadership, Community Integration, community-based participatory research, networking, and collaboration; and to foster an environment conducive to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and inclusive excellence; and 3) Champion CHANGE Scientists’ efforts to obtain K- or R-series extramural funding, and provide services and resources for research excellence that will accelerate progress toward tenure and promotion. A diverse scientific workforce improves engagement, establishes trust with research participants from URM groups, ensures that research is locally appropriate, promotes innovation, helps to avoid biased outcomes, and generates higher- quality scientific publications. Personalized, culturally-informed training and access to URM role models are key for successful URM training programs. Our approach reflects new literature on barriers and promotors of URM faculty retention and embodies improvements identified by our former NERC Faculty and Scientists. CHANGE Scientists will benefit from a well-informed, supportive environment and the participation and role modeling of senior Native faculty – including RCMAR alumni – who conduct health research with Native community partners.